Harry Potter and the Three Fates
by FeeBe
Summary: Something had gone horribly wrong, instead of the story that you know Lily and James never got together and so in the end Voldemort won and the world burned. The Fates discovering a hole in the tapestry agreed (after much debate) to send back a hero and a guide to resolve the issue, healing the tapestry and saving the world.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own any part of the Harry Potter Universe. Sad but true.

Because I love a time travel story I decided to try my hand writing at my own. There is however a ton of them out there and I am not sure whether it is worth taking through to completion. As such this is the first chapter (I have only written 5) and is un-edited and I am looking for feedback as to whether or not I should continue. Please let me know.

Oh and anything that is highlighted you have seen before and is a quote from JK Rowling.

 **Harry Potter and the Three Fates**

Chapter 1

Fate takes a hand

While it is true that in some universes (the world of Anne Shirley comes to mind) that two individuals being often in conflict can be a sign of hidden affection, and the grounds for a great romance, in the world being viewed it is _not_ the case.

Past

Raised voices could be heard long before the pair came into sight.

"I hate you James Potter you're an arrogant toe rag! And I will never go out with you," the red head yelled in her rage. She turned her back on the boy and stormed off. It was the second day of their seventh year and the two head students had already had fourteen fights, nearly all had been started by James asking Lily to accompany him to Hogsmeade, apparently she was uninterested in the dark haired boy.

Lily swept down the halls and into the Headmasters office.

"I can't work with that…..that…that…." in her fury words failed her, she settled on "fiend! I quit!"

Giving the headmaster no time to convince her to reconsider she slammed her badge on his desk, the sharp pin taking a gouge out of the oak, turned on her heel and stalked from the office. For the rest of the year, she and James did not speak to one another. After finishing school he became a professional Quidditch player and died due to an unfortunate bludger related incident in the world cup of '82. Lily joined the Order of the Phoenix and passed on to the next world protecting her sister Petunia from a Death Eater attack the same year.

The Order was defeated and Lord Voldemort ruled the world. The tapestry unravelled.

 _At least that is what would have happened if the Fates hadn't intervened._

The Fates

The Moerae sat working on the tapestry; Clotho, at the wheel spinning the threads of life; Lachesis sat dressed all in white at the loom measuring the length of each fibre and weaving the strands into their destiny; Atrophos inexorably cutting each thread, ending each life with her shears.

It was Lachesis who first noticed the problem. Running her hand across the weave she felt her finger dip into a hole. She looked, closed her eyes and looked again. She moved the threads with a perfectly manicured fingernail to adjust the weave.

It was still there.

Sighing she wondered how long it would be until the others noticed. What would happen if they didn't? Unfortunately this little hole was in just the wrong spot, a connection that should have held the cloth together had not been made and there was darkness staining the edges of the hole, seemingly spread from one of the darker strands. The tapestry could be hung and there at the ends of the world it would come apart. It was such a pretty tapestry, it told the story of the sweetest hero child and truth be told it was one of her favourites.

Perhaps it could be saved?

"Sisters," she said hesitantly into the silence, she had to approach this just right or Atropos would have a fit and toss the cloth aside.

"Yes," responded Clotho the youngest.

"We have a problem," Lachesis ran her hand gently over the fabric.

"I see no problem," stated Atropos gruffly, the tapestry was nearly complete and she was in a hurry to finish.

"Look again," pleaded Lachesis indicating the hole.

"Oooh yes," Clotho nodded as she glanced to where Lachesis was indicating. "We have a hole. How did this happen?"

"A dropped stitch perhaps," jeered Atropos, blame dripping from her voice. It was typical that her middle sister should cause the issue, Lachesis was careless and grew attached to the heroes when she should remain apart.

"Or maybe a thread was too short!" snapped back the middle sister.

"We should toss it aside, it seems too far in to undo the weave," suggested Atropos, detached from the world of the tapestry now that she knew it tapestry wasn't flawless she was keen to set it aside and move onto the next. Inwardly she rolled her eyes, of course it was only discovered when they were nearly finished.

"No!" cried out Lachesis in distress. "I have grown fond of this world, perhaps we can mend it?" she hesitated to suggest.

"Mmmm," considered the youngest, indeed it was one of the most elaborate tapestries they had woven, the gold and silver highlights were particularly stunning.

"I don't want to," frowned Atropos. "Let us just throw it away." This was by far the easiest solution.

"Or we could unravel the threads and start again," suggested Clotho. They all knew that the workload would fall to Lachesis.

The three old women studied the cloth for some time.

"This line is too long!" noted Lachesis pointing to a golden thread that Atropos hadn't yet severed. "If we use some of it to mend the hole?"

Clotho looked closely, seeing in the sparkling thread a boy with unruly black hair and green eyes.

"That's an important thread; it may not be wise to use it for patchwork. It might not be strong enough, look here," she scratched a portion of the patterned cloth with a fingernail. "It has been pulled awfully thin!"

"What about a guide that should take some of the strain?" Lachesis indicated another thread that overhung the edge of the tapestry though not by as much as the original. It was also gold though with a hint of brown.

"Mmm," said the eldest looking into it at the girl with bushy brown hair and chocolate coloured eyes. "It is close to the first but has its own story. That strand is too strictly ordered, it would lead and not allow the repair. Any changes would be left to luck," she declared

The three shared a glance and shuddered returning to their work.

"This one?" Atropos pulled forth a third gold string glinting with red.

Clotho examined it closely, seeing a red headed boy. "No, he will not guide he will follow! The repair would be left to chaos and we all know what _she_ is like."

Rolling her eyes at her youngest sister Atropos grabbed a thread at random "This one or we toss it out and start anew!"

The youngest woman frowned as she squinted, examining deeply the silvery strand in her hand, seeing a girl with silver grey eyes and blonde hair. She nodded once; chance had selected an excellent good choice for a guide. Lachesis nodded in agreement, smiled and gently turned the fabric over marking the place where the two lines had stopped with a pin and feeding the threads back through the fabric just below the hole, anchored them to the nearby strands. Focusing intently she began to work.

Present

As the sun entered the Great Hall that morning shedding its light across the fighters, two spells sped towards each other and collided with cataclysmic force and Tom Riddle fell to the ground with solemn finality.

 **After a while, exhausted and drained Harry found himself sitting on a bench beside Luna.**

 **"** **I'd want some peace and quiet, if it were me," she said.**

 **"** **I'd love some," he replied.**

 **"** **I'll distract them all," she said. "Use your Cloak."**

 **And before he could say a word she had cried, "Oooh look a Blibbering Humdinger!" and pointed out of the window. Everyone who heard looked around and Harry slid the Cloak up over himself and got to his feet.** He had just about covered himself, only his head remained visible, when the edge of his cloak wrapped around Luna's ankle and the world stopped.

The Fates

Lachesis sighed as she looked up from her work.

"There is not enough thread, and see this black," she indicated a strand. "It interferes with everything. I have never seen the like of it. It stains all the threads around it!" She held the cloth towards her sisters. "We'll have to unravel it to at least here."

The others looked over the tapestry and indeed nearly every strand that the black thread crossed was dull and darkened or stained completely black only the three gold strands and a handful of silver ones remained untouched.

"Well I won't change the length of the gold," the eldest pouted, grateful that at least it was Lachesis that would have to do the re-weaving.

"I will replicate them both, but there will be a cost," decided the youngest. "If we are giving the guide visions a price must be paid," she looked to the eldest who inclined her head in agreement. Then the cost will be…."

The sisters nodded, and Clotho duplicated the necessary threads, while Lachesis undid the first repair. She then anchored the duplicates into place by the hole, noting that the original threads no longer shone with quite the same brilliance.

1st of September 1977

The Great Hall was filled with the boisterous sound of students who had been parted for the whole summer greeting each other. It started innocuously enough with a faint buzzing that most ignored; the noise grew and was soon joined by an orb of dazzling white light near the Slytherin's table. The teachers stood, yet only Dumbledore approached the site as silence fell over the students. As the blinding light faded it left behind two figures; one sitting on the table a cloak tangled around her ankle it appeared to have slipped off the other, who unconscious upon the floor.

Dumbledore approached and spoke to the pale faced girl "Who are you?"

When she turned her head towards his voice he could see that her silvery irises were obscured by white discs and knew at once that she was blind. She tipped her head to the side when she heard his voice. With a wave of her wand she isolated their conversation from the rest of the room.

"P.P..Professor Dumbledore?" she stuttered in amazement, her clouded eyes wide.

"You know me?" he asked, she nodded in response.

"When are we?" she asked, if Dumbledore was surprised by the question he showed no sign of it.

"When are you?" he paused as he briefly considered why she would ask. As nothing likely presented itself as immediately feasible and factoring in their sudden arrival into the hall. Only seemingly impossible reasons were left, however as the saying goes once all possible answers have been eliminated the remaining possibility no matter how improbably must be the solution. He pushed the thought aside for now. "It is the first day of term in the year 1977, sorting has just occurred and the feast has begun."

Her face fell, "Oh."

"When were you expecting?"

"May1998!" Dumbledore gazed solemnly at her over the rim of his glasses, glad she had had the foresight to prevent the conversation from being overheard, time travel was illegal after all.

"Well, we had best get you and your young friend to the hospital wing. Might I ask who you are?"

"My name is Luna Lovegood, and as to my companion I am unsure, but the last thing I remember I was providing a distraction for Harry…. but I can no longer see."

Dumbledore thought it odd that she did not seem distressed, "You had vision before you travelled? Perhaps if you describe Harry I can check for you?"

Tipping her head to the side as she confirmed "Yes I could see before. Harry has dark unruly hair, round glasses and a lightening shaped scar on his forehead."

Dumbledore bent over the boy and lifted his fringe before straightening, noticing the striking similarity to the current Head Boy.

"You are indeed correct, this is Harry. His last name, would it be Potter?"

"Yes Professor."

The girl suddenly stiffened, her eyes unblinking and sightless stared at the Headmaster as she began to speak, "As the tapestry unravels the chosen one and the guide have been cast backwards through time, never again to return, fear not the changes that will come. The chosen one has the power to defeat the Dark lord. Listen to the guide. Fear not the changes!" Luna trembled violently, before passing into unconsciousness, with a quick movement Dumbledore reached out and caught her before she hit the ground.

The headmaster raised his wand, conjured two stretches, and levitated the unconscious pair onto them and out of the hall. The noise in the Hall resumed as he departed. Dumbledore caught the attention of his deputy and the Head students instructing them to supervise the rest of the feast and see to the students. The Head Boy had been just about to ask the Head Girl to go out with him for the seventh time that day before he was interrupted by the Headmaster's request. Seeing the two injured bodies being floated out of the room made the boy reconsider the conversation and instead he acknowledged Dumbledore and nodded to his red headed partner. He knew that outside the walls of the school the Wizarding community was under attack, it seemed that the war had come to Hogwarts.

Madam Pomfrey called Professor Dumbledore to her office to view her two charges. It was the 5th of September and they probably needed to stay with her at least another week. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before she gave him her report.

"They have injuries that they could only have received in battle and he looks like he has spent the majority of his life on light rations," she stated her tone all business to hide the anxiety she felt: they were too young to have incurred the injuries they had. "It wouldn't surprise me if the boy had a less then friendly upbringing; his scans show that during peak times in his growth he lacked adequate nutrition. As a result he is of a shorter stature then he ought to be. He has had a cracked skull on more than one occasion, his right arm has been punctured clean through with a circular device and the left has been badly cut possibly due to torture, it was a messy wound. With regards to dark magic exposure, his left hand shows he has been made to use a Black Quill for an extended period, he has a scar on his forehead shaped like lightening, a fresh wound in the same shape on his chest just above his heart and an oval shaped semi-healed scar in the centre of his chest. There are similarities between the scar on his forehead and above his heart, but also between the one in middle of his chest and his forehead. However the two on the his chest are not similar at all. The open wound on his chest is proving rather resistant to healing," Madam Pomfrey had worked her way up through her vocal register as she shrilly announced the last, now clearly distressed.

She took a deep breath, trying to settle herself before continuing, "They both have fresh wounds consistent with being attacked, and all manner of dark curses have hit them. The girl isn't in quite as bad condition, but has also been on limited rations for some time and has nerve damage consistent with being tortured with the cruciatus curse in the recent past, a week at most, though she seems to have undergone some healing."

Dumbledore looked over at the unconscious bodies lying on the beds and had to agree with the Healer's assessment. They had been on the front line in the war. It was certainly a puzzle how this could happen to two young people who should by rights have had nothing more to worry about then their education. He sighed at his age, it was these puzzles that made life interesting, however he couldn't help feeling that he would have preferred just about any other type of entertainment.

The boy stirred, his eyelids fluttered open, glancing around his eyes swept past the Headmaster his head turning for the briefest second before his brain registered what..or rather…whom he had seen and flicking his head sharply, eyes wide, face pale and breath catching in his throat. The boy hoisted himself up and began moving away from the Headmaster in apparent fear while his right hand reached out searching desperately for his wand. Albus raised his hands palms forward to signal he meant no harm, but the boy kept backing away until he fell from the bed onto the floor in a tangle of blankets and sheets.

The boy untangled himself, swiftly getting to his feet, his wand now in his hand and pointed at the old man. Could this be a Death Eater? After everything could Hogwarts have fallen? Quickly sorting through his thoughts for a security question as Moody's catch phrase leapt to the front of his mind, "Where did you break your nose?"

It was a rare occasion that Dumbledore was struck dumb but that question had surely done it, who was this boy? The verdant eyes observed him critically and he couldn't help but silently mouth "Arianna's funeral." The eyes closed and he boy gave a shuddering breath. Dumbledore noted the wand in the boys hand with surprise and wondered at the similarities to his own. Surely this was more evidence they were from the future but what did this signify? Which of them held the true wand, or were they both true and the power divided? What of the boys cloak was there another in existence?

"Now, now, now," soothed Poppy as she rushed over. "This is Albus Dumbledore the Headmaster. You just pop right back into the bed here and we'll soon have you sorted out. The Professor just needs to ask you a few questions."

The breathing rapidly the wide-eyed boy followed the directions and allowed himself to be tucked back into bed.

"Do you remember the date?" Albus asked.

"Second of May 1998." The Headmaster frowned, at least that agreed with what the girl had said before her prophetic episode.

"You seem surprised to see me," the old man noted. "Perhaps I should begin by telling you when you are," started the Headmaster in an effort to calm the boy. "It is currently the 5th of September 1977. You and your companion have been unconscious since the start of term." He waved his hand to the right.

Harry turned quickly to see Luna lying in the adjacent bed. "Is she….?" concern bleeding onto his face.

"She will be fine," Dumbledore reassured smiling at his concern. "She had a vision when you first arrived and then passed out. It seems you have both been through rather a lot."

"When we arrived, Sir?"

"Yes you appeared in the middle of the Start of Year feast, she was sitting _on_ the Slytherin table and you were lying on the floor. It was lucky that those places were vacant at the time. Now would you care to tell me how you came by your injuries?"

Harry stared at him, thinking back to everything that Hermione had ever told him about time travel in their third year. Harry thought for a moment, how much should he reveal?

"I…I…I don't think that would be a good idea, Sir," he finally replied. "It wouldn't do to change things." They had just won the war after all, regardless of the losses.

He grimaced as he thought this, there was so much that he would like to change, so many people he would like to save but he knew that it was a selfish dream, what would the cost be of such changes? What if it meant they lost the war! Harry and Dumbledore stared at each other and neither noticed Luna stirring beside them.

Suddenly Luna spoke; she seemed to read his mind "Its ok Harry, things are going to change. Don't let the wrackspurts affect you," she waved a hand vaguely in the direction of his head.

"We can't change things Luna, think of the cost! Horrible things happens to those who meddle with time," Harry insisted. "How did we get here anyway?" he directed the question to Dumbledore.

The Headmaster shrugged "Of that I am unsure and until I am, I will be unable to send you home. So in the meantime I would recommend you both staying here. You are related to James Potter? And you to Xenophilous Lovegood?" They both nodded, "It seems pointless to change your appearance when the entire school has already seen you. However I would suggest going by other names. Do you have any preferences?"

Luna smiled "How about Harry Claybaker?" Harry laughed the sound felt strange to his ears, it seemed wrong to laugh when so many had died.

"How about Luna Amorbien?" Harry suggested, Luna smiled in return. "What are we to do while we wait?"

"I would have thought that obvious," the Headmaster's blue eyes twinkled through his glasses. "You will go to class." He chuckled as Harry groaned.

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Luna sang in her soft melodious voice. "And you never did get to do seventh year."

Harry looked at her, for the first time noting her eyes and becoming distracted "Luna, can you see me?"

"No Harry I lost my sight on the way. You don't need to worry, someone will be along to guide me in time."

"How old are you?" Dumbledore interrupted before they could go off on another tangent.

"I was two months off eighteen," Harry said.

"And I was seventeen in February," Luna supplied, "but my sixth year was…..interrupted."

"Alright so you will go into Seventh year Harry and Sixth year for Luna. Your Houses?"

"Could we be put into the same year, I don't mind repeating, I don't want to leave…" Harry glanced at Luna, a twisting, roiling sensation in his stomach. He felt responsible for her displacement and didn't want to leave her unprotected without a guide.

"It's ok Harry," she reassured him.

"I don't want you to have rely on people you don't know!"

She shook her head and said firmly, "No Harry, I'll be ok."

Tipping her head on the side Luna asked the Headmaster, "Could we be sorted again? It might be interesting to see things from another point of view and I suspect we have changed somewhat since our original sorting."

"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed. Harry was hesitant, he loved the Gryffindor tower.

"Sir we have no funds for uniforms and such," Harry hesitated to bring it up, but he doubted that his Gringott's key would work in this time, surely there would be an identical one in his father or grandfathers possession, and he had very little money in his mole skin pouch.

"Hogwarts has a fund for students such as yourselves, so there is no need to worry."

Hit by a sudden thought Harry asked "What about Luna's vision?"

"Oh," dismissed Dumbledore. "I'm sure we will figure it out in the end. I'll send the Head boy and girl to show you around later in the week, you'll need to come up with a cover story by then."

Harry watched him as he swept out his purple robes flaring behind him, wondering if this was where Snape had learnt the skill. Madame Pomfrey bustled around, placing half a dozen potions and a glass of water in front of each of them with strict instructions to take them immediately and then rest.

"Are you _really_ alright Luna?" Harry asked quietly after he had downed them all.

"Yes Harry. What will we say? I've always wanted to be an explorer and now we are on a grand adventure!"

"I'm sorry Luna…. I'm sorry for getting you into this mess!" Harry let himself full back onto his pillow with a whomp and a groan.

"It's ok Harry; I think we are here for a reason. While we slept I had a dream," she smiled a little. "I saw three old women working on a tapestry, one was spinning, one was weaving and the last was cutting the threads and they told me that you were the chosen one, and were being sent here to fix a mistake that had happened. I am here to show you the way"

"I…I…I'm sorry," Harry closed his eyes with a wince.

"Harry," Luna whispered softly. "It's fate."

"Yeah, but why does it always happen to me?" Luna smiled gently as he whined.

Madam Pomfrey returned and began to scold Luna for sitting up too long and hastened to give them another potion to help them sleep. Harry noted that they didn't taste any better than the ones in the future before he fell asleep.

The sun beamed through the hospital wing windows awakening the two sleepers.

"Argh," Harry groaned. He blindly grabbed for his glasses and slipped them into place. Looking around he saw Luna stirring as well, and felt grateful that at least there was one person who would believe him in the world, one link to his past life.

"We need a story," Luna said as she turned her head in his direction.

"Mmmm, the more truth the easier to remember," Harry suggested Luna nodded. "So my parents died when I was just over one, and your Mum died when you were nine, we should stick with that. Anyone can tell by looking at us that we are obviously _not_ siblings."

"How about we have been staying with family friends called the Grangers, being schooled at home and now that we are getting ready for our NEWTs they were thinking that Hogwarts would be able to prepare us better."

"Nearly perfect, though it doesn't explain how we arrived. So why were you with the Grangers too? If your Dad is still alive?"

"Oh, maybe I wasn't staying with them; I was just learning from them, you were staying with them?"

"Yep, ok Hermione's Mum's name was Jean and her Dad was Robert, they live..er…lived.. in Heathgate." Luna nodded. "We need to explain the condition we were in when we arrived."

"Oh, um maybe Death Eater's came and attacked the Grangers, resulting in my blindness so they made an unauthorised Portkey to get us out of there and accidentally set it to Hogwarts rather than Hogsmeade so it busted through the wards."

"Hmm sounds workable. Hey Luna why do you want to be sorted again?" Harry asked as the thought struck him.

She smiled, "I heard someone once say that sometimes they think we sort too soon, I think they might be right."

Harry smiled, thinking of Snape. A cold feeling as if of ice melting surged across his skin causing him to shiver as he realised, they were here! They were ALL here! HIS Mum and Dad, Remus, Sirius, Snape, Regulus, all alive and all _HERE_.

"Luna," he whispered in shock, pale at the thought of the head boy and girl. "I don't think I can do this because ….."

With a bright smile she finished for him, "They're here!" the door to the Hospital wing opened and in walked the two top students.

Harry turned and his breath caught in his throat, it was the first time he had ever seen the pair he had heard so much about. Heard so much that they were nearly mythical in his mind. His Mother: an angel, bright, kind to all and cheeky. His Father: with his devil-may-care attitude, the pranking king and arrogant, was there any way they could live up to his expectations?

To his disappointment the first thing he noticed was that Snape was right; his Father did strut!

Lily headed straight to Luna's bed with barely a glance at Harry. Harry turned his head to watch her as she walked past.

"Hi I'm Lily, the Head Girl," she said with a large smile as she confidently held her hand out and looked at Luna's smiling face. Confusion crossed her brow as Luna seemingly ignored the hand.

"Hi, I'm Luna, it's lovely to meet you at last."

"Luna!" Harry sharply interjected as Lily turned at last to face him. "I'm Harry." He managed a somewhat strained smile as he held himself in check, wanting nothing more than to spring from the bed and hug his Mother for the first time. A moment to late he realised he must have been staring in his efforts to drink in every aspect of her appearance because a throat behind him cleared.

"And I'm James, the Head Boy. Apparently we are here to show you round the castle," he looked utterly bored and more than a little annoyed at Harry. Harry took a moment to gaze upon his Father; while it was true that the had similar features Harry didn't feel that they were all that alike. He was at least a couple of inches shorter, thinner of course after several months on short rations while they had been on the Horcrux hunt, and then there was his eyes.

"Sure that would be great," Harry managed to reply. He looked around and spotted a robe hanging at the end of each of the beds. Blushing slightly he said, "Um, we'll…..we'll just get changed. Hey Luna your uniform is at the end of the bed, will you manage?"

"Thanks," Luna nodded in response. Harry pulled the curtains around Luna's bed first ensuring her privacy, before drawing his own closed and getting changed.

"What's wrong with her?" James hissed to Lily as they stood on the outside of the curtains. Harry didn't hear Lily's whispered response through the drapes which he pulled open when he had finished dressing.

"Harry," Luna sang from the other side of her curtain, he could see her hands getting tangled as she tried to push it aside. He went to assist, reefing the material to the side. Luna stopped as she felt the material sweep across her hands. "Mmmm that was…interesting."

"Ready for the tour Luna?" Harry reached down and took her hand placing it around his elbow so he could lead her towards the Head students.

"What's wr….?" James paused as Lily who had grasped the situation a little quicker as she had made the association with Luna's opaque eyes, stomped on his foot. "Ow! Evan's what was that for?"

"Don't be so insensitive James," the red-head hissed at him, he glanced at her in confusion.

"It's ok," Luna interrupted the brewing disagreement. "I lost my sight quite recently," there was a slight pause before she continued brightly, "I'm sure I'll find it again eventually."

The Head students stared at her in bewilderment unsure what to make of the strange statement, though they noticed Harry, didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"Um," James cleared his throat. "So how come you're joining us this late? I don't think I've ever seen a student not start in first year."

Harry addressed his Father shyly, "We were schooled at home. With Newts coming up it was decided we should come here but there was an …incident that happened so we ended up coming in a bit of a rush. "

"The incident?" James asked, Harry indicated towards Luna with his head. "Oh." James and Lily surmised from the condition that the pair had been in when they arrived in the Great Hall that the events were less innocuous then a mere potions accident.

"Well let's go," Lily decided that she had best take charge of the situation and led the way. She had been hoping to take Luna and leave the two boys behind, recently James' presence had been making her feel uncomfortable (he had been somewhat subdued since the Sorting, though no less annoying) and Harry looked so much like him, but that no longer seemed an option. She led the way through the doors trusting the others to follow.

"Which house do you think you'll be placed in?" Lily asked after giving the pair a brief description of the houses.

Harry's breath stopped, he could be sharing a common room with his parents and a dorm with his Father! He was going to have to stop getting so emotional or he would pass out, Luna noticed his anxiety and squeezed his arm in reassurance.

"Oh we don't know much about it so wherever they see fit to put us I imagine," Luna covered for his inability to speak.

"I think we are being sorted this evening. I just hope we are together," Harry added, he thought he heard James mumble Hufflepuff and he shook his head with a wry smile.

Harry waited with Luna in the antechamber while the Great Hall filled with students for the evening meal. James had not made a second appearance since the tour, though Lily had come in and taken them to the Great Hall for lunch; Harry felt this was mainly to check on Luna as she had barely acknowledged his presence. Eventually the students settled and McGonagall appeared and guided them into the hall, the hat and stool were already in position.

Dumbledore stood, "This evening we have two new students to welcome; Luna Amorbien in sixth year and Harry Claybaker in seventh." Harry cringed under the collective gaze of the student body, thinking that it never got any easier but at least he wasn't the Boy-Who-Lived anymore.

The split on the side of the hat widened;

Welcome, welcome to our hall.

I've never sorted ones so tall.

Ones distinguished and ones of fame

With tales of valour to their name –Harry cringed again.

To sort again I must its true

I'll find the house that's right for you.

McGonagall called into the silence "Amorbien, Luna." Harry led Luna forwards, she reached cautiously for the stool and kept a hand on it as she turned and sat. McGonagall placed the hat on her head.

After a few moments consideration the split above the brim yelled "Gryffindor." Luna grinned.

Harry moved to take Luna over to the table, but McGonagall called a prefect, that he was startled to recognise as Remus, to assist.

"Claybaker, Harry."

Harry grimaced as he made his way towards the stool.

'Mmmm a Potter I see- the voice murmured in his ear.

'Yes but not here!' He thought back.

'Hufflepuff could provide you with the rest you seek.'

'I can't leave Luna!'

'Very well, I had best make you'- Gryffindor!

There was some polite applause as Harry made his way to Luna's side, where she was now engaged in polite conversation with Remus.

"So where were you from?" a voice cut through Harry's thoughts and he turned to see a dark haired girl who looked vaguely familiar.

"Oh, ah," he stuttered "Heathgate."

"Emmeline Vance," she shook his hand. He was flooded with memories of the advanced guard and the flight from Privet Drive to Grimmauld place at the start of his fifth year. He remembered she had died shortly after while defending the Muggle Prime Minister and he thought he would pass out. "You alright? You look a bit pale," she asked.

He swallowed "Yeah fine."

"Do you fly?" she asked eagerly.

"I…it's been a while," he wondered if he should fly here, after all his name hadn't been on the trophies that his Father's had been on.

"Why is that? What position do you play? Did you know we had tryouts for the house team today?" the girl had an insatiable appetite for questions as each was issued there was another waiting behind it. Harry pondered how best to answer, he couldn't very well say that he had spent the last 9 months on the run from Voldemort while collecting and destroying Horcruxes.

"Em, take a breath and let him eat," Lily laughed at her friend and Harry smiled at her gratefully.

Harry noticed that Luna wasn't eating, "Do you need a hand Luna?" he asked quietly.

"Just point me in the direction of the potatoes please." She had become used to eating in the infirmary where the meal was presented on a plate, and the food was laid out in the same manner every day.

"Directly ahead of you in a bowl for the mash, I can pass you the roast if you prefer, or we can go to the kitchens and we can get them to make you up a plate?"

"I have to learn to manage Harry," she reminded him quietly, as she reached out to the bowl of potatoes.

"I know, I just…" he saw the smile on her lips and he knew she understood that he just wanted to help.

"You know where the kitchens are? You've only been here two weeks!" Emmeline exclaimed.

Thinking quickly Harry said "Well there was this one night where Luna really wanted pudding and Madam Pomfrey was too busy to get any so she sent me." He internally grimaced, it wasn't the best lie although Emmeline seemed to accept it and turned back to her meal.

"I don't think I can do this Luna," Harry whispered to his friend, he didn't notice the glint in Remus' eyes that showed he was listening in. "I haven't even recovered yet! What we are even doing here?" his heart beat faster, panic oozing from his pores. "I keep seeing…" he swallowed. "They are everywhere I look lying…."

The blonde angled towards him slightly and replied in calm low tones, "Breath. Slowly that's it. It's ok Harry; they said there is time to rest before our task starts."

"And what is our task?" he hissed.

"Something went wrong and we need to fix it, just use this time to get to know everyone we've….missed."

It was clear to Remus that 'missed' was not the word she had originally intended to use, but he couldn't figure out what would have been a suitable replacement. That there was something out of the ordinary going on was easily deduced, from their sudden appearance, their strange clothing, the way Harry paused before answering questions, to her odd affliction. It rankled the werewolf that he couldn't pinpoint what was wrong. They didn't assault his senses in the way that a Deatheater would but this mention of a task was troublesome none the less. He knew they were lying, surely the boy could have come up with something better then Madam Pomfrey sent him to the kitchens especially when she had access to House Elves. Still he put these thoughts behind him as he stood.

"I'll show you the way to the Gryffindor tower if you like," he offered as the plates of desserts disappeared from the table.

A strange expression crossed Harry's face "Thanks." Harry stood and reached for Luna's arm only to be intercepted by Remus.

"If I may?" Luna laughed as he continued to lead her from the Hall, Harry trailing behind looking a little lost.

Lily watched them leave, clearly this boy was quite different from the one he looked so much like, and making a decision she hurried after them.

"You worry for her?" Lily noted as she fell into step with Harry.

He nodded "It hasn't been long, and it's my fault so I…."

"Feel responsible," she finished for him, looking at his remorseful face. "I'm sure it wasn't you know."

He was surprised that she had been able to read him so easily, it was going to be hard to keep their secrets.

"That's because you don't know me," he muttered so quietly that she wasn't sure if she had heard correctly.

"Come on it's just up here," at last she led him through the portrait hole and into the warmth of the common room. Looking around he felt he could finally breath.

He had come home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

So as I said previously, this is an incomplete work that I started a while ago, and am not sure about finishing. I've had a few nice comments so decided to throw the second chapter out here to see what you all think. It is un-beta'd. Anything in bold you have seen before. And the Harry Potter world is not my own. I am looking for ideas as to where this story is going and have 5 chapters written so far. If I do continue it updates will be less regular then my Lily Evans series as I haven't been posting those until each story is complete. Thanks xo

The Newcomers.

It started with a small noise nearly indistinguishable from the soft snorings and night time breathings in the dark room. A small whimper, it could have been someone's cat, trying to get its owners attention. A sharp intake of breath, a short high pitched keen of pain, gold flecked green eyes spring open. A small cry, black messy hair turns towards the noise. A moan low and deep, the frame of another black haired boy raises off his bed. A groan filled with grief, and the final figure in the room is drawn to wakefulness.

" **Stay close to me." he said quietly.**

 **And he set off.**

" **I expected him to come. I was, it seems ….mistaken," said Voldemort.**

" **You weren't."**

 **Harry said it as loudly as he could, with all the force he could muster: he did not want to sound afraid. The resurrection stone slipped from his numb fingers and out of the corner of his eyes he saw his parents, Sirius and Lupin vanish as he stepped forwards into the firelight.** With his Cloak and wand tucked inside his robes, he had left himself no opportunity to retaliate. The elder wand was raised.

" **Harry Potter," he said, very softly. His voice might have been part of the spitting fire. "The boy who lived."**

"Avada Kedavra!" The green light flashed towards him, striking above the heart.

"Aarrgh."

The scream heard on the edge of consciousness, he now knew it belonged to Voldemort.

A hand was warm on his chest as it checked for signs of life, **nails pierced him**. **Then it was withdrawn. She had sat up.**

" **He is dead,"** a voice rang through the stillness with all the clarity of a bell and the crowd began to laugh and cheer. His tormentor raised his wand again.

" **You see?" screeched Voldemort over the tumut. "Harry Potter is dead by my own hand, and no man alive can threaten me now! Watch!** _ **Crucio!**_ " as the pain hit, Harry felt his body being thrown high in the air and tried to remain limp.

"Aaaaaaargh," he screamed again.

At the sound of the scream the four boys gave up any pretence at sleep and scrambled from their beds. They rushed to the four-poster of the fifth and ripped the curtains apart. Harry's body was rigidly arched, only his heels and head remaining in contact with mattress, his left hand pressed into the scar on his forehead and his right to his heart.

"Harry!" James reached out a hand to shake the smaller boy by the shoulder as contact was made Harry's screams grew louder and more frantic.

"Harry, HARRY! Wake up!" they were beginning to panic now. Remus firmly gripped Harry's shoulder and shook him. His eyes snapped open, fear and pain clearly visible in their green depths, and his screams stopped as his body dropped suddenly onto the mattress.

"S..s..s..sorry," Harry stammered into the sudden silence, breathing hard and observing their pale bewildered face.

"Nightmare?" Remus asked kindly, Harry nodded. Embarrassment surfacing as his heart rate slowly returned to normal: the last thing Harry wanted was his Dad and his friends thinking he was weak.

"Do you get them often?" James asked. Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to answer. Noticing his discomfort James added, "Just so we can, you know in the future, put some charms up so the rest of us can sleep."

"Yeah I get them a bit. I'll remember to silence myself in from tomorrow I promise, sorry," Harry admitted with his head bowed and cheeks pink. He quickly grabbed his clothes and headed to the bathroom in an attempt to hide his mortification.

The rest of the group stood around his bed in silence and watched him go.

"Do you guys think that Harry's a little….odd?" Remus asked quietly, after the door shut.

Sirius nodded "He says he's homeschooled, yet only Pureblood families do that. Claybaker, Amorbien and Granger are not pureblood names."

"Amorbien could be on the continent for all we know," James suggested with a frown.

"He knows where the kitchens are already," added Remus. "Even with all out night time wanderings we didn't discover them until third year."

"And what was with that nightmare? That was not normal!" Peter concurred speaking much more loudly then the others.

"Neither was the sorting hats song, 'tales of valour' and all that rot. I don't think he's harmful though," James thought about it. "He gives me a good vibe you know, but something is not…right..with him. More like he's _in_ trouble rather then he _is_ trouble."

Remus nodded "He doesn't smell like a Death Eater."

Peter emitted a squeak. "You can smell Death Eaters?" he asked with a quivering voice.

The bathroom door opened and the conversation ceased as Harry re-entered the room looking much more collected. He looked around at the other boys who had moved and were now sitting on their beds, as he folded his pajamas and tucked them under his pillow.

"I'm really sorry for disturbing you this morning. I won't get any more sleep so I'm going to head down to wait for Luna," he grabbed a textbook and exited the room quickly feeling their eyes on his back.

It was still early so Harry made his way to fall into one of the armchairs in front of the fire.

"Incendio," he started a fire in the grate and stared into the flames, his book sat unopened beside him.

A feeling of disquiet had woken Lily early that morning, not wishing to disturb her roommates she dressed quietly and left the dorm. As she made her way down the stairs she noticed the lone figure sitting in front of the fireplace, with the messy hair and glasses she assumed it was the head boy. It was unusual to see him sitting so quietly, his head resting on his hands, without his three companions. It was true that their relationship and been less than cordial in the past, but the shocking appearance of the two newcomers with their tale of sorrow had emphasised to Lily that is was perhaps time to put their petty differences behind them and move on. Maturity after all was only fitting in their current roles of Head Boy and Girl. She might not agree with a lot of Potter's past actions, but she knew if it came down to it she could rely on him _and_ he had cut down on the flirting and other annoying behaviours since the start of school, so she decided to extend an olive branch.

"Potter?" she said hesitantly, now it came to it she wasn't sure if she should disturb the boy….no….young man. The head raised to reveal deep green orbs. "Oh, sorry I thought you were…"

"James," Harry finished with a wry smile. "Sorry to disappoint."

"Oh, I'm not…" she blushed. "Disappointed that is, I was just going to um…"

Harry looked at her questioningly "Just going to what?" He heard a soft step on the stairs, and could see a figure with messy hair in the shadows.

Well," she said a little shyly. "I was going to make peace with him. Hearing what it is like out there," she waved a hand vaguely towards the window, "has kind of hit home. It's so easy to forget that there is a war going on, we are so protected here. I've been a bit harsh to him at times. He teases and jokes and really, really annoys me, but I guess he isn't a bad bloke. If something went wrong, really wrong, I think he would be there for me."

Harry smiled, "I can guarantee you that any time you need James he'll be there for you. Don't be put off by his jokes, when he has to be, I'm sure he can be serious and he really does care."

Lily tipped her head, eyebrows drawn together in a frown, "How do you know? You've barely spoken to him?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm good at reading people. You really should have this discussion with him, I'm sure he'd appreciate it." It felt weird talking to his mum about his dad, though the thought crossed his mind that maybe this was why he and Luna had come back. Remus and Sirius had only said that his parents had started going out sometime in Seventh year, maybe Harry and Luna were the cause. The figure in the background moved further into the shadow (or possibly donned an invisibility cloak, Harry thought wryly) and disappeared.

"Um, could you see if Luna's awake for me? I'm getting a bit hungry but I didn't want to head down without her and I can't…" he indicated in the direction of the staircase to the girl's dorms.

"Get up the stairs?" Lily laughed as he nodded sheepishly. "Sure, I'll head up." She ran up the stairs.

Harry turned back to the fire as footsteps descended the boy's stairwell.

"Harry?" Harry turned to see James. "Thanks for that, you know what you said to Evans."

Harry acknowledged this with a nod. James sat in the chair next to him. "I really like her, just being near her makes me feel alive, you know, but she's never given me a chance before." With a sigh he admitted, "And rightfully so I may have acted like a bit of a prat on the odd occasion."

"I think you might find that changes soon," Harry offered with a smile.

"I'd just about given up, we had this huge fight on the train and then again at the feast and it just seemed all too difficult, so I was just going to try and move on."

Harry was pale with the thought of how close he had come to not being born, "Hang in there," he encouraged. "She's coming around. Though if you want some advice?" James indicated for him to continue. "She is fiercely independent, so don't fight her battles for her, be there to support her through them instead. Lily believes in doing what is right, so pranks that hurt and humiliate or target just one person will put her off. Before anything else, you need to get to know her and be her friend. And this is important.." he looked through his glasses with serious eyes, "Do not under any circumstances embarrass her."

James stared, "How? Just how do you know this?"

They were interrupted before Harry could answer. "Harry," Luna's dreamy voice floated over to them and he stood.

Looking down at James he said quietly so his mother, who was making her way down the stairs with Luna wouldn't hear, "She just needs to see who you really are," he finished, ignoring the previously asked question he walked towards Luna.

"Morning Luna, are you ready for breakfast?"

"You had a nightmare," she said softly as he approached. "You need to talk about it or the Wrackspurts will infest you." She tipped her head on the side and reached a hand above his head plucking to remove the imaginary creatures from the air, when she was satisfied that she had removed all the errant pests she ruffled his hair with a grin and said, "I can always make you something to help keep them away."

"Luna, I'm fine, it was just a dream."

Suddenly she reached forward to grab his arm, "Harry, you need to know the connection is back," he turned sharply to her, pulling his arm out of her grasp with a sharp hiss as if her touch had burnt.

"No! Luna, you are wrong, it can't be, I can't go through it again!" horror seeped from his voice seeming to darken the air around them.

"Harry you need to listen to me."

"I won't believe it Luna," he cut her off. "It's gone, HE is gone, when we get to go home again it will all be fine. It is done!" he hissed. "Let's go." He reached out gently to take her hand and tuck it into his elbow.

She allowed him to lead her through the portrait hole, leaving a stunned pair in their wake.

They sat next to each other at the table and Harry mulled over what Luna had said. The pain he had felt in his scar from the dream only reinforced her statement, but then why was he dreaming about his past, and not the present? A voice broke through his thoughts.

"I'm in sixth year as well, what subjects are you taking?" A boy with dark hair leaned over and held a hand out to Luna, intuitively she lifted her hand, he took it and shook. He introduced himself as Benjy Fenwick. The two chatted happily as they ate and Ben offered to walk Luna to classes as they were taking all the same subjects. Harry was hesitant to let her go with him but Luna insisted that Harry couldn't be waiting on her all the time, it would make him late for his own lessons which just wouldn't do. He bit back a smile at the remnants of the Ravenclaw in her. Harry watched them as they left the hall together, and couldn't help being horrified as why that name seemed so familiar finally came to him- that day at Grimmauld Mad-Eye had told him: Benjy Fenwick, they only ever found bits of him. He concentrated on shutting thoughts of the past out and controlling his breathing.

"You like her," Peter accused from the other side of the table, Harry glanced at him. The dislike he expected to feel for Peter wasn't there, there was a wariness instead.

"No," Harry shook his head a wry half smile on his lips. "She's one of my best friends and I'm the reason she is in this mess. If anything else happened to her, I would never forgive myself."

"So tell us what this mess," Sirius mimicked the words, "entails?"

Harry shook his head somberly "I'd rather not thanks."

"She was right about one thing, you should talk to someone about your nightmare," Remus said.

"How did you?" Harry turned wide eyes on Remus before it struck him, that the Werewolf probably had exceptional hearing, he must have been on the staircase, Harry would have sworn he wasn't in the common room. The words "Werewolf of course," crossed his lips in a whisper before he could stop them and it was Remus's turn to look shocked.

"It's hard to talk about," Harry said looking Remus in the eye, he wanted to offer him some reassurance that being a werewolf wasn't important. "It was something that happened to me just before I came here."

"It sounded like you were being hit with the Cruciatus," Sirius joked, Harry looked down at his plate.

"Don't be ridiculous, who would use an unforgivable on a student!" Peter scoffed.

"My parents," Sirius added in an undertone, in the shocked silence Harry was relieved he didn't have to answer, while at the same time being shocked by this revelation from his Godfather. There were so many things about them that he had never had the opportunity to learn.

"Sorry, Sirius," Peter mumbled.

"With Voldemort out there Pete, there are quite a few who would. Heck, Mulciber tried to perform it on Mary MacDonald not two years ago in the halls of this school." The blonde boy swallowed in fear.

"Maybe Madam Pomfrey can give you some Dreamless sleep potion?" suggested Remus.

Harry shook his head, dismissing the suggestion, "You can take too much of that, it stops working after a while, and I'd need it quite….regularly. I'll talk to Flitwick about some charms, or if it comes to that I'll silence myself before I go to bed."

"The problem with silencing yourself, is that then you can't un-silence yourself," Peter said with the air of the wise.

Harry looked at him briefly, "That's what non-verbal spells are for. I guess we should get to class." He stood and led the way.

Four boys sat huddled together under the beech tree, trying to solve the puzzle that was Harry and Luna

"We know they say they were homeschooled, and that's a lie," Sirius started.

"They seem to know their way around, at least Harry does, he hasn't gotten lost once. I mean, who finds the kitchens within two weeks, when most of it was spent in the Hospital wing," Peter added.

"Lils told me that Harry felt responsible for Luna's blindness," contributed Remus.

"Since when has she been LILS' to you Mooney?" huffed James.

"Since fifth year when we were made prefects and had to do patrols together you git," the werewolf pushed the dark-haired boy over and a good natured wrestling match ensued.

"Enough," laughed Sirius. "That's not helping us get to the bottom of this. Have we got anything else?"

"He knows I'm a werewolf," three heads snapped in Remus' direction.

"How the hell?" Sirius shouted in anger over the revelation of his friends secret. Remus raised his hands placatingly.

"He has treated me just the same, though I will need to talk to him about it."

"Are you sure he knows Mooney?" James asked a worried frown on his face.

"I heard him," Remus confirmed.

"What else have you heard?"

The group leaned in to hear the whispered response, "At dinner the night they were sorted Harry asked Luna what they were doing here and she said that they have a task to complete but there was time to rest beforehand, and they should use it to get to know the people they had missed. Only the way she said it, it was almost as if she wanted to say something else. Then this morning they were talking about his nightmare and Luna said something about a connection being re-established, which he denied."

"They are Death Eaters and they're going to kill us all!" squeaked Peter.

"So where does that leave us," mused James ignoring Peter's interruption.

"No idea!" sighed Sirius.

"What are you guys up to?" Lily smirked down at them as they jumped, startled by her unexpected approach. There was something immensely satisfying about catching the Marauders unawares.

"Talking about Harry and Luna and trying to figure out what their story is," James told her, they outlined their discussion to date. He moved aside so that she could take a place in the circle.

"There is one thing you may have forgotten," she said as she tucked her legs to her side under her skirt.

"What's that?" Remus seemed surprised.

"He looks nearly exactly like James," she smiled. "I'd be willing to bet that Claybaker is not his real name, so the first step is to find out _who_ he really is."

"The Map!" cried Sirius, jumping up and running off in the direction of the castle.

"You really think he looks like me?" James asked her.

Lily nodded, "You two look so much alike you could be twins. The other morning I thought you were in the common room and a called your name, I didn't realise it wasn't you until he turned to look at me and I saw the scar on his forehead. Actually I wanted to talk to you if I could." she paused as the three boys looked at her in expectation. With an exasperated sigh she added, "In private," standing up she caught hold of James' arm and pulled him away from the others.

"I've been thinking," she said earnestly. "Harry and Luna coming made me realise that there are worse things in the world then pulling pranks and being immature. So I wanted to say, I'm sorry, I've been so hard on you. With the war outside, perhaps we could all do with a little more fun."

James could have crowed. Having Lily apologise to him was more than he had ever hoped for, "Apology accepted. For what it's worth, I'm sorry too. I take things too far sometimes and I _have_ been an arrogant toe-rag. I apologise for that. When I picked on you it was because I wanted you to notice me, I realise now that it was the wrong way to go about it, so I'm going to stop and I'm going to try and do a better job of being Head Boy."

Lily smiled back; he couldn't help but notice how her eyes sparkled when she was truly happy. They walked back to the others and the group returned to the castle.

Harry knew that today the Marauders were spending their free period outside under the beech tree as they had asked him if he wanted to join them. He had declined in favour of starting his transfiguration homework, after all he had two weeks worth of work to catch up on, fortunately Lily had lent him her notes. As usually he was only half done before he found himself gazing into the flames and pondering how he had found himself here. He wondered what Hermione would say, probably something along the lines of you can't be seen, don't tell anyone anything, you can't change anything or who knows what could happen to the future- sorry Hermione he thought, we've already stuffed it up. All they could do was to try and keep their past secret: that should be easy no one had ever found out exactly how bad it had got at the Dursley's and Dumbledore himself was the king of secrets, so a little thing like being from the future should be easy, it wasn't like anyone had any means to find out his real name…

The Map!

Damn!

Harry jumped to his feet and took the stairs two at a time, opening the door to the dormitory with a crash. He turned and locked the door, then stopped. I need to be calm- he breathed- look, don't throw things about. He careful searched each of the trunks to no avail, just as he was beginning to panic he spotted the corner of a piece of parchment peeking out from under James' bed, he grabbed it and tapped it with his wand.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," lines began to bleed over the paper. "Mischief Managed."

Harry sighed in relief as he gently tucked into the moleskin bag he still wore under his clothes, thinking he would return it just before he and Luna were sent home. There was no doubt in his mind that Dumbledore would find a way. Harry frowned as he considered that he hadn't seen Dumbledore in the last two weeks, except at dinner as he sat at the head table, so it didn't really count. Harry decided he would find Luna and they could go and see the Headmaster now to see if there was any news on their potential return to their own time.

James, Lily, Remus and Peter had followed Sirius at a more leisurely pace. Leaving Lily in the common room they run up the steps to the dorm.

The room looked like someone one had fired a reducto curse from the doorway, the contents of every trunk had been emptied onto the floor. Sirius was kneeling in front of Harry's trunk pulling the last of the contents out of it.

Sirius was in a rage "That sneaking, snivelling, toad wash, has taken the map. I know it was him!"

"Sirius calm down, he doesn't even know about it. How could he possibly know about the map? If he took it he probably just thought it was a spare piece of parchment," the words tumbled from James' lips in his efforts to calm his friend. They all stopped.

"A spare piece of parchment!" Remus sounded like he was going to faint.

"We need to find him fast!"

They ran back out the door and down to the common room. Harry was nowhere to be seen, neither was Luna. Remus spotted Benjy playing chess.

"Hey Benjy, have you seen Luna or Harry?"

"Dumbledore," Benjy replied not taking his eyes from the game.

"How long ago?"

"'Bout half an hour," he grabbed his knight and made his move, grinning at his opponent.

Remus grabbed the other guys and headed out.

The two teens walked into Dumbledore's office, they had met the man himself in the corridor just outside. It made Harry feel slightly out of place when he realised that he didn't know the password to enter.

"Hey Fawkes," Harry greeted the phoenix; he walked up and gently ran his finger over the birds head.

"He seems to like you," Dumbledore said from behind his desk.

Harry nodded "We always got along, he saved my life once."

Dumbledore paused before he spoke "That is rare. Now why have you come to see me?"

"We were wondering if you have found a way for a way for us to get home?"

The twinkle left the blue eyes, "I'm sorry Harry, after considering Luna's vision, I am certain there is no way for you to return."

"So you're not even looking! What about not messing with time? What happens when we are supposed to be born?"

"Hmm, as to not messing in time, I believe we have been given a rare opportunity to do just that Harry!" with a smile and a twinkle the old man peered over his spectacles. "As to your second question I have a number of theories on that, either you will automatically be returned to your correct time and will need to adjust to whatever changes have occured due to the um, shall we say meddling, or you will stay here and you will not be born as that would create a paradox, or and I believe this one to be correct if you have been cut free from the time stream you were travelling in a new version of you will be born, with a life completely different from that which you have had, possible the children born will be different in some distinguishable way."

"Is there any way that events will stay the same?"

"I believe not."

Harry felt like the floor had dropped out from underneath him, this couldn't be happening to him. He had already gone through so very much, already given it all. "So we have to go through the war again! No," he shook his head breathing rapid and shallow, heartbeat racing as he stood. "No!" he screamed in denial. "I won't, I can't." Harry turned and blindly ran from the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Suspicions

After his dramatic departure Luna had tried to follow Harry but with the speed born from mental anguish it wasn't long before he left the range of her hearing, leaving her to stumble after him through the halls.

"Looks like his infestation of wrackspurts is bigger than I thought," she muttered. With an unhappy little sigh she reached one hand out to feel the wall to guide her way and continued walking towards what she was sure would be his destination. Moments later she heard the thudding of feet on stone as a group approached from a corridor to her right.

"Luna!" a female voice called interrupting Luna's musings of where she could find the number of butterbeer corks she would require to make Harry a necklace (she figured it would take at least 20, her own comprised of 16). Luna stopped and turned towards the voice.

"Lily?" The footsteps stilled.

"Yeah it's me and the Marauders, the guys were looking for Harry." They noticed Luna wince.

"He, um, he," words failed her as Luna tried to describe what Harry was going through,knowing he would hate it if she said to much, he was holding onto his secrets like a shilite limpit to the hull of a boat.

She felt so bad for him, he had carried the weight of the war in the other-time, they had just made it through. There had been so many losses and he, of course blamed himself. But finally he had emerged from out of it all and he finally had hope. Hope that he would reconnect with Ginny, for a normal future. Hope that he wouldn't have to return to his relatives. Hope that there would be peace. He had finally found hope and now it had been ripped away from him by three old ladies in grecian robes who sat around a spinning wheel and played with people's lives. Then the wrackspurts had taken over and he had panicked. Shaking her head sadly she said "Professor Dumbledore gave us some bad news which lead to his wrackspurts multiplying and he ran off. He was going too fast, I couldn't follow."

"Any idea where he would have gone?" it was a male voice this time, she suspected it was James.

"Quidditch pitch," Luna replied without hesitation. "If you are going to find him, could someone take me back to the common room, please?"

"I'll do it," Lily volunteered, "You guys go check on Harry." She reached out and took Luna's elbow.

"You know Luna, I'm sure we could make you a stick to use to help you find your way around the castle. Muggles have them. I'll talk to Remus about it, we should be able to charm it to warn you about the stairs and other obstacles."

"Mmm a detection charm and some sort of alarm. Yes?"

"Exactly!" The girls walked the rest of the way to the tower deep in conversation.

Harry had reached the Quidditch pitch before realizing that his Firebolt was over twenty years away. When he realised he let out a frustrated scream . He had stopped outside the broom shed and running a hand over the door at the memories of tucking his own broom inside he couldn't help but murmured the password as it had been in his time. To his surprise, and delight, the door opened, he shook his head; they hadn't changed the password twenty years, wizards really were ridiculous. Looking around he saw the pile of school brooms, looking much less battered then he remembered, he grabbed one, walked back outside and with barely a pause to mount the broom soared into the sky.

Reaching the apex of his arc the boy paused and took a deep breath of the cool air. Exhaling slowly the tension started to leave him and angled the broom down again. Another breath, the broom climbed higher and soon everything below him looked diminished, the forest, the lake, at this height Hogsmeade was just visible in the distance past the school's gates. No noise entered his world. He could almost believe that there was nothing in the world apart from him, his broom and the feeling of the breeze as it ruffled his hair.

His hands ran over the rough wood in front of him and Harry began to wonder just how much the broom could take. With a lopsided grin he angled the handle down towards the ground and he dove, with no care for his own safety. Gravity greatly assisted his descent, at fifteen feet he felt the vibration start in the stick in his hands (he let out a yell of exhilaration at the speed). At ten feet the vibration became a wobble, reefing the handle back towards the sky he pulled out of the dive not five feet from the ground, enjoying the rush of adrenalin.

"Merlin!" a shout echoed across the field as Harry levelled out and turned. "Get over here now!" the black haired apparition screamed. "What do you think you are doing?"

Harry grimaced, well if he was going to be yelled at by his Father for the first time he might as well get it over with.

Pulling the emotion off his face he yelled back "It's called flying. As I hear you are captain of the Quidditch team, I'm sure that you've heard of it."

James' mouth moved without sound for a few moments before he collected himself, "Where did you get that broom, you can't just go breaking into the broom shed and taking someone's broom and nearly smashing it!"

"The shed was unlocked," Harry lied smoothly as he dismounted in front of James. "This was in a pile of identical ones so I assume it is one of the schools brooms, and I have in no way damaged it." He held it out for inspection.

James took it, looking it over carefully, before returning to glare at Harry "You could have been killed!"

"I've done it before," he tipped his head to the side as if considering, "though I was on a much better broom, I was in no danger, thanks for your concern."

James grumbled something about having his heart stop under his breath but backed down.

"So," Remus cut into the uncomfortable silence. "We ran into Luna."

Harry froze, guilt pooling in his stomach as he realised he had run off and left her alone, "Oh Sh.."

"She's with Lily," Remus interjected, watching the emotions slide across Harry's face.

"I'd best go find her and apologise," Harry hung his head cheeks red, grabbed the broom and turned to walk away to the shed.

"Actually she wanted us to talk to you," Remus added gently before he could get to far. Harry stopped and looked up and his eyes met James'. The familiar colour of Harry's eyes registered and James wondered where he had seen eyes like that before. Harry returned the broom to the shed and met the four boys back at the stands.

"Mind telling us what happened?" Remus pushed.

"I'd rather not," Harry sighed, however after a brief glaring contest he gave in. With a groan he sat on a bench and began to speak, "Dumbledore just told us there is no way we are getting to go b….. _home_."

"Well there's nothing to go home to, is there?" Peter was confused.

Harry had to think quickly, they had only ever given a brief description, Death Eaters attacked and Luna was blinded but they had never said exactly what had happened, so the Marauders obviously thought that 'Home' had been destroyed.

"Well, maybe it would help if you knew more of the story." Perhaps he should discuss it with Luna first.

"Yes," the four boys agreed eagerly, seating themselves around him.

Deciding he would tell Luna later Harry leaned back, face to the sky and closed his eyes as he started speaking. "Well you all know that my parents died when I was fifteen months old. They had known my parents and took me in. Luna and her family lived next door so after that we grew up together. . The Grangers educated us as best they could, hiring tutors and so on. They had always discussed us coming to Hogwarts as we got closer to NEWTS but it never happened. Then a few months ago they discovered that they had become targets for Voldemort."

The boys surrounding him hissed at the name, but didn't comment.

"We had an emergency portkey but one afternoon the Death Eaters came, cutting through the wards like a hot knife through butter. There was a huge fight, the Grangers gave us time to get away. Luna and I, well I think the only way to describe it was my accidental magic, I think it reacted with the portkey. We ended up in the Great Hall. Somehow that magic made Luna lose her sight. I kind of hoped, that everyone got out and that the place was ok and we would be able to go home at least for the holidays and Christmas. That we would see the Grangers and Luna's Dad and our friends again. Now we know we can't we have no one to turn to and nowhere to go!" he roughly brushed his hand against the tears that were forming.

Silence fell, and Harry stood, pushing his feelings away.

"I shouldn't have left Luna, I'm going to go apologise. Thanks guys." They watched him walk off towards the castle remaining silent until he was out of sight.

"So," Sirius turned to look at Remus. "Just how much of that was the truth?"

"You're looking at me because…..?"

"Well using your super-Wolfie powers, clearly you can tell," Sirius smirked at Remus.

"It's a guess but…." He thought about the small clues, the lack of eye contact, and extra tension in the shoulders. "His parents dying when he was young, that's true. Living next to Luna that's a lie. Most of that with the Grangers is a lie, though he probably did know someone called Granger. Fighting the Death Eaters is odd, he has done it but not like that I don't think. The transfer here affecting Luna's sight is true. Him hoping he would be able to go home for Christmas is true, but I kind of get the feeling his meaning of home is a bit….different. What do you think James?"

"I get a weird feeling whenever he mentions his parents, something's really odd there." James rubbed a hand to his chest. "Still I don't suppose it's important," shaking his head he dismissed it. "Let's go in, it's time to eat."

Lily grabbed Remus by the hand as soon as the Marauders entered the Hall and pulled him over to the Gryffindor table.

"I have an idea about Luna!"

"What about her?"

"We should make her a staff or walking stick like Muggles who are blind use, and we can charm it to give her warnings on approaching dangers or obstacles." The two spent the entire meal discussing how exactly it would work and then set off to find Professor Flitwick.

"Luna," Harry spoke to her quietly. "I'm sorry I ran off, I didn't think. You're missing home just as much as I am. Your Dad and friends…"

Luna inclined her head, "It's ok Harry."

"I wasn't a very good friend, it was selfish."

Luna reached over and blindly grabbed his forearm, sliding her hand down it, she squeezed his hand. "Harry do you remember what I said to you about the DA?"

He stopped breathing, riddled with guilt, "You said it was almost like having real friends."

"I changed my mind Harry. You, Ginny, Neville and Hermione were my real friends. I'm just glad I have one friend with me." She squeezed his hand again before letting it go.

"I had a thought," Harry changed the topic before he became emotional again, she was right at least he had one true friend with him, he wasn't alone and for that he was grateful. "You need to learn how to defend yourself."

"I don't think I can," a frown marred her brow.

"Luna, you rode a thestrals to the Department of Mysteries to take on Death Eaters with me." he said matter-of-factly. "If you can do that, you can do this. We'll start after this and I know just where to do it," for the first time a smirk crossed his face.

Sitting further down the table, Sirius hid the fact he was eavesdropping by shovelling as much food into his mouth as possible. His mind raced- fighting Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic, surely that would have been all over the prophet! Sirius decided to follow them; it was time to find out just what they were doing.

He turned to James and said in an undertone, "I need to borrow the cloak." James raised an eyebrow. "It's for our…project," Sirius flicked his eyes towards the newcomers. James nodded once in reply and Sirius dashed out of the Hall.

Sirius covered the distance between the hall and the Tower so fast that he was back before Luna and Harry had finished eating. Covered by the Cloak he followed them when they finally walked through the doors and was surprised as Harry led Luna through the secret passageways to the seventh floor. They stopped in the corridor beside the picture of the Trolls dancing.

"Harry!" Luna's voice softly echoed through the space "I think there is a Blibbering Humdinger around, I can hear it breathing." Harry long used to Luna's antics, had figured out that the nonsensical animals were her way of advising the people around her when she sensed things weren't as they should be. He looked around spotting no one, he hurriedly paced the corridor three times. As the door appeared he quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room.

Stunned at the sudden appearance of the door, Sirius missed his chance to slip through it behind them and was left standing outside in the corridor waiting for the pair to return. Who was Harry to know the secret passageways and a room that even the Marauders hadn't discovered?

Harry looked around, the room was divided into two sections. Along one wall was a duelling list with a clear wall protecting the rest of the room, which was set up similar to the Gryffindor common room. A small smile graced Luna's face.

"I know where we are!"

"It looks different to the way it was before," Harry launched into a description of the room. Still holding her hand he led her into the list.

"We'll start with shields and disarming spells only, until you can sense where they are being fired from. Are you ready?"

"Yes," Luna tipped her head to the side, listening for any movement from the boy. He didn't speak as he disarmed her.

"Accio," she called her wand back to herself, listening at the faint whistle it made as it moved through the air. She managed to close her hand around it just before it flew past her.

"Do you need me to speak the spells to start off with?" Harry offered. Luna shook her head.

"Ok then let's try again."

It took an hour before Luna successfully blocked one of Harry's spells.

"Hey!" Harry shouted as his disarming spell rebounded and he dodged out of the way. He ran up to Luna and picked her up into a hug. "You did it! After only an hour! You're brilliant you know that right?"

Luna giggled, "Put me down Harry!" when he complied she continued. "That was hard work, I think it would help if I concentrated on expanding my other senses for a while." Harry led her back to the couch.

"Luna? I've been wondering how you get on in class."

"Oh it's easy Harry, there is a spell I use that will read a page of my books to me and then another that I cast on my quill to take dictation of my notes and write my assignments."

"That's brilliant. How are you finding classes?"

"Pretty good, practicing can be a little difficult though, but if we can use this room I'm sure I'll be ok."

"I know Lily and Remus are looking at making you a walking stick but what we really need is to find you an eye like Moody had; if we could fix it to a cane then it might help you get around, though it would get in the way if you need to defend yourself."

"But how would it help me to see, I can't put it in the socket like he could!"

"When Hermione, Ron and I went back to ministry to retrieve the locket, that was the first of Voldemort's soul ties, from Umbridge she had Moody's eye stuck to her door. It was linked up to some sort of alarm spell, it still worked so when it detected us it set off an alarm."

"So it must have been able to detect the visual world and then send that message somewhere," Luna concluded. "We just need a book to tell us how to make one, or how to spell it properly if we can buy one."

Her face went even paler for a moment, "Harry, what we are going to do for money?"

"Well, Dumbles has given us a few Galleons to last till the end of school, then I'll get a job, or …I'll go hunting a Basilisk! And have it rendered down and sold," he joked.

Luna tried to look stern "Harry, you don't even know where to find one, and if you did it is too dangerous!"

Harry mimicked her voice, "Luna, I know EXACTLY where to find one and I have done it before." He considered this for a moment before becoming more serious. "Though to be fair I won't be able to just pull the Sword of Gryffindor out of the sorting hat or have Fawkes on standby with Phoenix tears, but on the upside I won't have a horcrux to deal with at the same time either."

"Harry Potter! It's a living creature you can't just kill it!"

"Well I'm pretty sure it will only take orders from Riddle now but I'll try to talk to it first to see if it will listen to me, if that will make you feel better. If it does then we will leave it alone and maybe ask it to donate some venom and shed skin for us to sell."

While they had been talking, a book had appeared on the shelf above the fireplace. Expanding the senses by _Eysil Coverlid_ "And the room provides. Here, I want to practice dueling for a bit, the room has produced this book." Harry placed the book into Luna's hands and made his way back to the lists where a Duelling dummy had appeared.

"Level 1," Harry called to the dummy and prepared to duel.

An hour later and Harry was dripping with sweat as he emerged from the lists thanks to the exertion of duelling, he hadn't made it past the first level.

"When do we begin the hunt?" Luna screwed up her nose at the smell of sweat as Harry approached. His heart began to race, and his breathing was shallow as he started to panic.

"I don't think I can do it again, Luna," he whispered.

"You won't be alone Harry," she reassured him.

"If Dumbles hadn't lied to me so much I would just turn it all over to him, but I just don't trust him," Harry fell onto the couch beside her.

Luna nodded, "Was it because he didn't tell you he loved Grindelwald?" Harry laughed at that.

"No his preferences aren't any of my business. Look it's nearly tea time and I want to wash up, I'll tell you more another time."

"Harry, The longest journey begins with a single step," Luna reached out and grabbed his arm before he could move away. "I think we should tell them the truth. Not yet, we need to look out for those who…."

"Aren't to be trusted," Harry supplied. "If it gets out we're here, then our life expectancy will be measured in minutes. At the very least they will capture and torture us for what we know. After Hermione, I WON'T allow that to happen to you," Harry's voice grew louder as he became more impassioned. "I won't fall in the trap of sacrificing people for the Great Good, without their knowledge or consent."

Luna rubbed his arm gently "So then we find out who is to be trusted, we tell them and when their wrackspurts have flown away they can help," Luna said lightly. She followed with a sad whisper, "I don't think we can save them all, the **eurumpets** will get some of them."

Harry slung an arm over her shoulder as they walked out the door, "I'll save as many as I can."

"But who will save you Harry?"

He gave her a wry grin as he replied, "When do I ever need saving?"

Luna laughed, "Do you want the short list or the long?"

"Short, of course," He laughed along.

"You should have been saved from the Dursleys." The smile drained from his face.

"Come on, I reek!" The door slammed shut behind them and Sirius slid out from under the Cloak. What the heck was that all about?

"That Luna is loopy!" Sirius was relaying what he had overheard to the others. "She talks about Wrackspurts and all sorts of weird stuff…"

Lily had approached and before Sirius could get into his stride she cut across him, "It's a code." Lily flopped into the seat next to James.

"What?" James and Sirius stared at her.

Remus thought for a moment, "Wrackspurts?"

"Confusion or befuddlement, people who aren't seeing things clearly."

"Blibbering Humdinger?" Sirius asked.

"Context?" Lily countered. She thought for a moment after Sirius explained, "Deceit, someone who is hiding."

"You think she knew I was there!" Sirius seemed shocked.

"She is very intuitive, possibly to the level of being a seer. There are a lot of things that she just seems to know, like despite not being able to see she always seems to know who is approaching. It might have to do with the loss of her sight, though watching Harry, I suspect some of it is just her. She's….eccentric. I like her."

"Yeah but you like everyone Lily. She drives me nuts!" Sirius stated.

"And that's another reason that I like her," Lily grinned. "You know it isn't very ethical to follow them, don't you?"

"They are lying to us Lily!"

"That isn't an excuse. Still what else did you find out?"

"Not much I got caught outside the door," Sirius sighed and repeated his tale. Lily couldn't think where she had heard the name Dursley before, but she felt like she should know it. "There's only one thing I really found out and that is that they've clearly been here before, they knew about whatever that room was. I turned around when they went in and the door was gone. We need to keep an eye on them!" Nobody disagreed.

A week later Luna and Harry were in the Room of Requirement again this time it looked like a potions lab. Despite the Marauders efforts they were currently alone. Harry had a book open in front of him and was pouring a thick mixture into a spherical mould. Lily, Remus and Luna had spent long hours in discussion with the Charms master and had discovered the means to produce an eye like Moody's.

"We let it cool for five minutes and then do the incantation to produce the colour." They had spent the hour before practicing and had managed to produce an iris colour that was nearly identical to Luna's own. "The other option is we leave it white, so it will just look like a sphere? That might not be quite so creepy."

Luna nodded her agreement.

"Ok then after we add it to the staff and we are done."

Harry had ventured into the Forbidden Forest and obtained a straight branch which Luna had stripped the bark from and carefully whittled by touch into a long thin cane. The original branch had an angled off-shoot at one end creating a vee which had been made into a handle. The time passed and Harry removed the eye from the mould. Holding the eye in his right hand and the cane in his left, he bought the two together, murmuring the next enchantment as he did so. The two merged.

"Oh!" Luna squealed. "I can see! Kind of….."

"Kind of?"

"Well it's odd, because I can see through things and everything is in layers. It's a bit like one of those machines that muggles have that allow you to see inside people."

"An X-ray machine?"

"Mmm, I think so." The eye whirred in its place. "Oh!" Suddenly Luna laughed. "I can see behind me." It whirred again.

"Hmm I think we need to make it a little quieter." Luna passed Harry the stick. After consulting with the book he murmured another spell, before passing it back.

"Thank you Harry!" Luna stood up and walked over to him and gave him a hug.

Harry watched her walking around the room for a moment before he was struck by a thought, "Luna, I just realised we could have set the eye into a necklace! Then you wouldn't need to worry about carrying the stick around.

Luna pulled her butterbeer cork necklace out of her bag, it didn't take long for the eye to be removed from one and added to the other.

Luna grinned, "This works much better! I still need to practice duelling without it though, in case something happens."

Harry followed her from the room, "Tomorrow's Sunday so we'll come back then, but it will have to be after the Quidditch match."

"You should have tried out Harry. Quidditch has only good memories for you."

"Yeah," Harry shook his head with a wry smile, "Except that time my broom was cursed, and the time the bludger was cursed and that other time with the dementors. Excluding the fact that we were still in the hospital wing at the mercy of Pomphrey at the time, if I had known we were not going to be able to go back I would have, now it's too late, besides I don't have my Firebolt, it was left in my trunk at the Weasley's when the Death Eaters attacked the wedding," he shrugged. Neither noticed the small blonde boy that was watching them from behind one of the shiny suits of armour. As they walked slowly to the staircase and down to the kitchens he scurried away.

Peter hurriedly called out the password to the Fat Lady and practically vaulted through the portal as she let out an indignant huff. Never the fittest of the boys, Peter collapsed onto a rug in front of the Marauders.

"I take it you found something out then?" Remus looked down on the red faced boy. Peter nodded and kept breathing deeply, miming for the others to hold their questions.

Finally he began, "You were right…Sirius….They were in …..hidden room. Tomorrow after ….Quidditch….they're going again."

"So what's the plan James? We don't all fit under the Cloak anymore."

"Remus and you, Padfoot. Go and stake out the corridor after the match, under the Cloak and then follow them in. Remus see if you can figure out how that room works!"

"Did you hear anything else?" Remus asked Peter now that the boy was breathing easier.

"Luna suggested that Harry should have tried out for Quidditch, but he said his Firebolt was left at the Weasley's, whoever they are, when Death Eaters attacked a wedding. Do you think that was the attack before they came here?" Remus shrugged.

"So his Firebolt is his broomstick?" Lily asked.

"It can't be, there isn't one on the market with a name like that," James answered with a frown. "And the Weasley's? They can't mean Molly and Arthur? They graduated a couple of years before we started, and were married ages ago. We definitely would have heard if they had been attacked."

"Captain!" a voice called across the common room. "Burbage can't play tomorrow!"

James turned to face Hestia Jones who was hurrying towards him, "What happened?"

"Potions accident, burns everywhere, he'll be ok but not for a week!"

"Damn!" James swore, "We've no replacement seeker, he was the only one who tried out."

"Harry plays seeker," a dreamy voice floated across the group as Luna walked past returning from the kitchens holding a bowl of chocolate pudding and a spoon. "He has misplaced his broom but if you could find him one to borrow, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Flying helps to clear the wrackspurts away." She took a scoop of pudding and sucked it off her spoon as she turned away.

"Thanks Luna, but we don't know how he would fit with the team," James tried to dismiss the option. "I'll just ask McGonagall if we can move the match due to extenuating circumstances."

Unfortunately due to the lateness of the hour it was impossible change the match.

"I'm sorry James," McGonagall was saying. "It's the eve of the match, there is no way Professor Slughorn will agree to a change now. Is there no one else who plays seeker? What about that new boy? Harry? I've seen him flying around the pitch on one of the school brooms and he seems to have talent."

"But will he fit in with the rest of the team?"

"At least we wouldn't have to forfeit the match," McGonagall countered the complaint.

"Argh," James groaned as he stood from his chair.

"I want Gryffindor to win that cup too," the professor reminded him. "Unless you have a valid reason for not wanting to use him, go ask the boy, surely it can't be that bad."

James couldn't put into words why he didn't want Harry to play, he had seen the other boy fly and knew he was good, there was the secrets issue but it wasn't a lack of trust, it was odd, it was almost as if he didn't want to see the boy who resembled him so closely, risk getting hurt.

Back in the common room James sank into the chair. He watched the messy haired boy studying on the rug in front of the fire.

"Just ask, I'm sure he doesn't bite," a voice near his ear suggested. Red hair cascade over her shoulders as Lily leaned over the back of his chair. Groaning again James stood and moved over to the boy.

"Uh Harry?" he started hesitantly. "We don't have a seeker for the match tomorrow, Luna said you played. Care to join us?"

Harry turned and looked at him with his big green eyes, James saw a flicker of emotion in their depths, was it joy?

"I would, but I don't currently have a broom."

"I've asked Burbage and you can borrow his, just for the match."

"Would he mind if we headed out early so I can try it out and get used to it?"

"I'm sure that'll be fine; I'll meet you at the pitch at six." Harry nodded and turned back to his book, his heart beating wildly, he was going to play his first Quidditch match with his Father! How was he going to get to sleep now!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As usual I own nothing. Would love reviews on ways to improve if anyone feels so inclined. As this story is unfinished I can't guarantee regular updates. xo

As the sun breached the horizon, James could just make out the dark figure standing by the Quidditch pitch as he left the castle. It made it an excellent time to head down there, as no-one would be able to tell how well their new seeker flew. Harry shuffled his weight from one foot to the other as he tried to keep warm while he waited for James to appear, the three slices of buttered toast, that his rumbling stomach had encouraged him to liberate from the house elves in the kitchen, resting on the palm of one hand. He was filled with a nervous excitement, today was the day that he would play Quidditch with his father for the very first time. Sure he now knew that he had had a toddler broom, but it really wasn't the same.

As he nervously consumed his breakfast he couldn't help but think it was a brilliant day for flying, the sky was clear and there was a cool breeze drifting in from the forest. The goose bumps on his arm gave to testament to the fact that it was still a bit cold at this hour of the morning but Harry didn't mind, once he was in the air he would barely feel it.

"Here," James, who had walked up behind him while he was eating, unceremoniously shoved a broomstick at Harry, leaving little time for the shorter boy to hastily brush the crumbs off his hands. He took it, running his hands along the shaft feeling the smooth wood glide under his fingers. Then holding it out precariously perched on a single hand upturned palm he tested its balance.

"I'll be back," he said as he smoothly swung a leg over and mounted the broom, pushing off into the sky with an economy of movement that impressed the Captain. Harry soared around the field, trying its speed, suddenly angling the handle to the earth he swooped, testing out it's handling, before finally landing in front of James, dismounting with a quick jump almost before the broom stopped. "It'll do," he announced cheerfully. "It's not as good as my old one, but it'll do."

"Not as good as your old one!" James was very surprised. "It's a Cleansweep six! It was only released at the start of the year and is the best broom on the market!"

Harry bit his lip as he realised his mistake, "Perhaps I should say, it's not as suited to my flying style as my old broom was." James seemed to accept that.

"Now we need to talk tactics," the two walked back to the castle, discussing the strategy for the match.

Four hours later and Harry was again heading on to the grounds, this time in the bright afternoon sunlight and surrounded by the team. They made their way to the locker rooms. Even inside the change room with its windows and door closed, in order to prevent the other team from overhearing their strategies, they could hear the murmur of the crowd. Just before James began talking Harry briefly wondered if his coaching method was anything like Olivers.

Unsurprisingly it wasn't, "Right," his father began. "So we all know Burbage is out and we have a sub in. Say hello to Harry everyone."

Harry ducked his head shyly, as the group chorused "Hel-lo Ha-rry." The blonde haired girl holding a beaters bat gave him a brief wave, when he looked up again.

"Mmm. I've seen Harry fly, and he knows how to handle a broom so there are no worries there. It's a bit late to try and teach him our usual strategies, so we are going to play this like a pick up match. We know Slytherin are going to play rough, but don't give them an inch. I would say take the fight to them, but we don't want to stoop to their level. So just don't give them an inch. Harry," here he looked directly into those big green eyes, "Do your best and try and catch the snitch. If you can do it quickly then that would be great too. All right you lot of crazy lions let's go!"

With that the group stood with a yell, threw their broomsticks over their shoulders and headed out. The cacophony swelled as the teams made their appearance, most cheered though a quarter of the crowd exhibited their usual behaviour and mocked and jeered.

In the end it wasn't much of a match. The Slytherins tried their usual bullying tactics, blagging and cobbing had been particularly rife, but before they could do any real damage, Harry caught the snitch. Disappointingly, at least for the non-Ravenclaw portion of the spectators (the Ravenclaws being keen to head back to study, felt that the old adage 'a quick game was a good game' held true), it was all over in under half an hour. The stands had emptied quickly as the crowd made their way to various other activities to fill in the rest of their afternoon.

As the rest of the team had been keen to attend the celebrations back at Gryffindor tower and only indulged in the briefest of showers, Harry was the last to depart the locker rooms. He met Luna who had been entertaining herself watching a dozen butterflies flutter around a flowering bush as she waited very patiently for him to emerge. The multilayered view that her Eye gave her was really very interesting especially since she had figured out how to get colour. Sending a bashful grin in his friends direction, Harry shook his head flicking out the remaining water from his still damp hair as they headed back to the castle across the now vacant grounds.

"Do you think if we spend an hour in the Room the the party will still be going when we get back to the tower," Harry asked, the silence giving them the freedom to talk openly.

"Harry we could spend three hours in the Room and the party would still be going!" Luna replied with a laugh.

"I don't think I can duel for three hours but you may have a point." Harry was interrupted before he could say anymore by a lone Gryffindor who was waiting for them at the top of the steps leading to the Castle. Harry still couldn't look at Benjy without think about his potentially horrible future.

"Coming to the party Luna?" Benjy asked with as the pair climbed the steps towards him.

"I have something to do first but I'll be there shortly," she agreed amicably. "Do you think they'll have pudding?"

"Great! I just wasn't sure if anyone had told you we always have a bit of a do after a match, and I didn't want you to miss out. I'll see you shortly. And I'm sure there'll be pudding," Benjy excitedly hurried off with a smile heading in the opposite direction to the tower. Harry had the sneaking suspicion the boy was headed to the kitchens.

"Me thinks you have an admirer," Harry gently bumped shoulders with Luna. She smiled softly in response.

"Mmmm," Luna smiled gently. She curled a hand around Harry's forearm and tucked the stick that she carried under her other arm. Harry was unsure why she carried it now that they had made her the Eye. He knew it wasn't a complete solution to her loss of sight, as she had told him that the layering effect it had could be quite disturbing, though with practice it was no longer as bad as it had been. He could only assume that Moody's other eye acted as some sort of anchor, or maybe comparison that negated the disorientation as he couldn't see how he could have completely adjusted to it otherwise, depth perception was particularly difficult. Surely it would have affect his ability to cast a hex accurately, though with what he knew of the old man he would have been determined not to let a silly thing like not being able to see properly hold him back. Harry let out a snort at the thought before returning his attention to the blonde.

"Does he know you can see him now?" Harry asked gesturing to the white sphere attached to her necklace.

Luna shook her head. "Have you told anyone?"

Again she shook her head, "No, it might be best to leave it a secret, this way I'll be underestimated."

Harry inclined his head, "You get underestimated more than enough as it is, but it's your decision and I can't say that it's not a wise one."

Their conversation drifted on to other topics, such Luna enlisting Harry's help to collect the butterbeer corks after the party, as they made their way through the castle. The pair were so distracted that they failed to see the tip of a size eleven boot peeking out from behind the statuette of Jysethame the Unfortunate, or the corner of the cloak that had been hastily tucked in behind the armour on the corner of the same corridor nor did they hear the footsteps that followed them all the way to the seventh floor.

Ten minutes later and Luna stood waiting patiently for the door to appear while Harry paced the corridor. Entering the room it was in the same format that they had been using. Harry wondered what Barnabas the Barmy thought of the visitors to his corridor, before he dismissed the thought as ridiculous, after all the man thought it was a great idea to teach trolls ballet, he would obviously have no objections to time travellers.

"Training first?" Harry asked removing his cloak and throwing it over the couch, Luna inclined her head in agreement as she removed her own. As they prepared both Luna and Harry had their backs to the door and so missed spotting the fingers that caught its edge and eased it open wider. After a brief pause the same hand allowed the door to close silently.

The last thing that Luna did before entering the list was to remove her necklace. Today was a day she would practice without it, though on other days she would leave it on wanting to ensure she was safe no matter the situation. It would be too easy to become completely reliant on it which was dangerous, it would only take the string breaking for her to lose the advantage it provided. Besides the visual effect would take some getting used to.

Towards the back of the room, invisible under their friend's Cloak a pair of watchers were shocked at the sight before them as they saw the two draw wands and start firing spells at each other without even a bow for proprietary. Their previous practice had ensured that Luna could now engage in increasingly lengthy rallies of spells. The ensuing Duel lasted for half an hour at the end of which Luna had managed to disarm Harry on three occasions and had blocked fifty percent of his attacks.

By the time it ended the watchers were becoming stiff from standing stationary underneath the Potter Cloak. Sirius who had never been particularly patient was beginning to fidget and sincerely hoped that the pair would be leaving soon.

"You're definitely getting better at that Luna!" Harry praised her, bestowing a brief one armed hug. She pushed him away and reached for one of the towels that had appeared on the arm of the couch so she could wipe the perspiration from her forehead.

"Thanks," Luna acknowledged the compliment with a smile. "Now we need to plan."

Suddenly Luna paused, standing frozen for nearly a minute, head tilted to the left and gazing around the room with a vacant eyed stare, "There are two Blibbering Humdingers in here now. I'm sure they are multiplying," she whispered.

"Should we discuss this later?" Harry asked in an undertone, which unfortunately was still heard by the boys standing in the corner. Remus and Sirius held their breath, would the two clam up and leave or would they finally get learn some of the secrets that these two were keeping.

Luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "No." She opened her eyes again, "They mean no harm, just they are very curious." Under the Cloak, Remus gripped onto Sirius's arm, as Sirius wiggled again.

"If you keep that up they will find us and then we won't learn anything," he hissed into the shorter boys ear.

"How are we going to get it all done Lu?" Harry rested his chin in his hands, unaware of the disturbance in the corner.

"What did you just call me?" Luna seemed stunned, she had always wanted a friend to give her a nickname, however she wasn't sure that she liked that one.

"Lu? Is that alright, I thought it was a cute nickname for you," Harry shrugged, a bit shy again. He'd never felt comfortable enough to give Hermione a nickname, Ron had already come with his, but Luna was his only friend here that made him want to have his own special link to her.

"Mmmm, well I guess it's better than Loony, but I think you should stick to Luna."

"How about Little Moon?" there was a half smile on his lips as Harry made the suggestion, it was something from her past, something to help her remember her family by.

"That's what Daddy used to call me," there was a catch in Luna's voice and her lips turned down a fraction just for a second, until she realised why Harry had made the suggestion. After all giving nicknames is what friends did, wasn't ot? "But I'll let you call me that." Harry threw his arm around her shoulders again and pulled her into another hug. Luna smiled, this was the most demonstrative that Harry had been since they arrived. He rarely initiated physical contact even before their time trip but it had been non-existent since they had arrived. If dueling and letting him call her 'Little Moon' encouraged that, it was a small price to pay.

"Do you remember your Dad used to have that Erumpent horn in the middle of your house?" Harry said suddenly changing the subject.

"That was the horn of the crumpled horned snorkack," Luna rolled her eyes, at the silliness of her friend as he tried to change the topic.

"Well it sure blew up like a Erumpent horn when Hermione hit it with that confringo!"

"That destroyed our house you know," she admonished him, gently slapping his arm. When she had learned of the incident, after escaping Malfoy manor, Luna had at first been devastated that her home had been demolished, but she knew that her Father had survived, Harry and the others had escaped to continue hunting the anchors which tethered Tom Riddle to life (a fact she had pieced together when she had taken Harry to the Ravenclaw common room in search of the Lost Diadem), and both of these things were far more important than any building ever could be.

"Sorry about that but at least it meant your Dad got away as did Hermione, Ron and I. If it happens again, I promise that I'll replace your house, ok?" Harry responded genuinely apologetic.

"I'll forgive you this time, Harry," Luna conceded. "If you," she poked him in the chest with a thin finger, "make sure that it doesn't happen next time around."

The hidden pair, looked at each other with wild eyes- next time?

"First thing, we need to do is to practice Occlumency. No-one can know where we are really from, it's too risky. We don't want Riddle coming to try and find us." Luna nodded her agreement as Harry continued, "Unfortunately I was pants at it. So I'll try to work on it on my own and then get Dumbles to test me out, then I can teach you." A sinking feeling began to grow in his stomach as Harry grabbed a book that had appeared on the mantle, copied it and put the copy in his bag. Luna had said that there were Blibbering Humdingers around but what were they after? How close were they? And how much did they hear? The feeling of dread grew as they slipped out of the room.

The Cloak slipped to the floor to reveal a matching pair of wide-eyed stares.

"We'd better head if we are going to beat them to the common room," Mooney stated.

"Hey!" James greeted Harry and Luna as they entered the tower, he had his arm around the shoulders of a tall thin girl that Harry recognised from the Team, one of the chasers he thought. "Here is our star of the moment." He gestured wildly "Harry Claybaker!" Several people cheered.

James walked up to Harry and handed him a drink. Harry obligingly drank it with a gulp. The liquid burned on its way down causing Harry to cough.

"You could have warned me!" he choked out, face red and eyes streaming.

"Where's the fun in that," James laughed, as Harry wiped a hand across his still red face. James unhooked his arm from round the girl and swung it around Harry's shoulders. "So we need to talk about the next match, you'll need to get your own broom and…"

"No," Harry harshly cut across his rambling, ducking out from under his arm. "Burbage will be better by then, he tried out for the team and got in fair and square. It wouldn't be right for me to take his spot, and I have other things I really need to be concentrating on."

James' face fell, "What could be more important the Quidditch?"

Seeing his father's disappointed face, made something twist in Harry's chest so he gave a small consolation. "However, if you get stuck again, of course I'll help out." James nodded, he supposed it was only fair, and at least the boy would be there if needed.

Lily had approached them un-noticed, "I would say that defeating Voldemort is more important."

"Huh," both heads of messy black hair turned in her direction, the expressions so similar it was almost comical.

"You asked what was more important than Quidditch,"

"Oh. Well Harry is hardly going to be doing that now is he?"

"Mmm, you obviously don't know Harry," Luna mused as she passed by the group, James' head whipped around to look at her his mouth agape. He could have sworn that she had been on the other side of the room just a moment ago. It was slightly disturbing the way she always managed to sneak up on him and always seemed to be aware of what was being said.

Lily placed a finger under his chin and applied enough pressure to close his mouth, "That's not your most intelligent look Potter." He scowled back at her, and by the time he looked around again Harry, and Luna, had disappeared.

"James!" Sirius called as he entered the room.

"What did you discover?" curiosity overrode James' party mood as Sirius and Remus approached.

"Didn't pick up much but they are learning Occlumency," Sirius replied honestly. "They aren't from where they said they were from and someone called Riddle is after them."

"Well that doesn't really tell us anything?" The disappointment showed on James' face.

"Do you think they are in a witness protection program?" Lily asked. The pureblooded boys just stared at her blankly. "Do you not have that here. Where the police hide people who have seen a crime or are otherwise at risk of being harmed by a criminal."

"First of all, what's a p-ol-eece man?"

"They are like Aurors."

"Oh, no we don't have anything like that," said Sirius.

"Anything else?"

"Well they also had a pretty weird conversation about things that had happened, but I'm not sure if they were just making it up or not," said Remus with a frown piquing James' interest.

"Why do you think they might be making it up?" James asked.

"Well she made that comment about Blubbering do-wangers or whatever, again," chipped in Sirius.

"And she mentioned that this time there were two of them. After that conversation we had the other day, it seems to back up that she knew we were there. If Harry understands what she is saying, which I think we can assume he does, then he would have know we were there. Then the whole conversation after that point could have been fabricated," Remus nodded.

"The conversation could be what?" asked Peter.

"Made up," Remus clarified.

"And what makes you think that it wasn't made up?"

"Hang on, I haven't finished with what makes me think it was made up yet. After talking about what had happened, they made the comment that - if things turned out the same way next time they wouldn't do it again," Remus leant in towards the group and spoke the last an exaggerated whisper.

James was reminded of Harry's off-handed comment that morning about the Cleensweep not being the best broom he had ever flown, if they were from the future that would explain it. Still it was too far fetched. He had heard of the work being done on a device that allowed one to travel back to relive a few hours again. A friend of his father's had come round to discuss one of the cases where it had gone wrong and the poor fellow involved needed to be treated with an extensive list of potions. James had happened to walk passed his father's potions lab when they were discussing the case. He hadn't heard the entire conversation but it was enough to know that such technology was only in the developmental stage. That had been just before he had started at Hogwarts, surely they couldn't have gotten it to work for more than a few hours at a time.

"Oh," said Sirius suddenly, "Do you think they were implying they are time travellers? Because I just thought that they meant if they got into a situation like that again. Really we know that the residual fluid in the Erumpent would explode if someone fired a confringo at it. And let's be honest, with all the kooky creatures that Luna talks about, hers is just the sort of family to have one in the lounge room." Remus looked at Sirius in stunned silence for a minute.

"I never thought of it like that," he confessed seemingly disappointed with himself. "You're probably right."

"Time travel would be pretty cool though," Sirius patted his friend on the shoulder.

"So now, what made you think that they might have been telling the truth? And what was the jolly story in the first place?" James harrumphed in exasperation.

"Well, the way they were acting with each other, their tone of voice all that seemed to say it was the truth and that they had forgotten we were there. Luna didn't seem to be too bothered by our presence, Harry asked if they should talk about it later, but she said that we were just curious." He didn't share the nickname that Harry had given Luna, it just didn't seem right.

"And the story was just that Harry had been at Luna's house with some other friends,"

"Hermi-o- ny and Ron," Sirius supplied.

"Hermione and Ron," Remus agreed.

"When Hermione fired a confringo at the Erumpent horn, which Luna insists was a crumpled horned snorkack's horn, and the resulting explosion allowed them to escape."

"And Luna's father, he was there too, don't forget," Sirius added.

"Escape from what?" Peter asked.

"They never said, just that they were grateful they all escaped, but maybe they meant that riddle fellow" Remus tipped his head on the side. "You know, they never said that Luna was there, why would the others be at her house without her?"

"It doesn't make sense," James agreed. "Was there anything else mentioned."

"No," Remus shook his head, "though we can tell you that Luna is learning to duel."

"And she's pretty good at it,' Sirius added as he stood and began miming casting spells at the others.

"She's blind!" James was shocked. The diminutive, distractible, ditsy blonde learning to fight, just didn't seem right. Not only was she small but she seemed too…...peaceful.

"So, that doesn't mean she is useless! In the Muggle world lots of people live independently without sight." Lily stated indignantly.

"How do they get around?" James was genuinely curious, after all muggles didn't have detection spells.

"They have guide dogs to lead them, or a cane that they use to feel out the ground in front of them, much like the one we made for Luna."

"What's a guide dog?" asked Peter.

"A specially trained dog, that wears a harness, which a person who is vision impaired can hold onto and be led around. Though the dogs are really intelligent and very well trained and help out in other ways as well."

"Ha a new job option for you Pads!" James laughed.

"Don't be silly James, Sirius isn't nearly well enough trained for that," Remus chuckled. Lily looked on a little confused frown on her face. The wrinkles smoothed out as she put the comments together, but kept her silence on the matter for now.

"How can she duel if she can't see?" James continued ignoring Remus.

Benjy standing a few feet away overheard the comment and walked over "Quite well actually. She's actually rather brilliant at defense. Her other senses compensate for her loss. Her hearing in particular is exceptional."

"I can't imagine it," Pete said in disbelief.

"I'll just have to duel you later then," Luna's voice carried her challenge from where she was now sitting half a room away.

"And that, ladies and gentleman, is exhibit A," Benjy grinned with a wildly flourished bow as he walked away.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

To the guest who can not be named- thanks, not really a very helpful review, but I'll address it just the same. I thought the story concept was obvious (it is after all rather cliche') Harry is sent back in time as something broke so that JK Rowling's story could not occur (James and Lily never got together). You'll have to read the story if you want to know if he succeeds and how the premise develops into a plotline. Or if you think it has no concept, feel free not to.

Sakura Lisel- Sorry it mustn't have been clear but by late he means, not in first year rather then late as in two weeks into the school year as yes he definitely remembers seeing them arrive, it was the impetus for some of his development after all. They're method of arrival is explained to the gang in chapter 3 (I think, at the quidditch pitch) the lie being told is that it was a hastily made portkey set to the wrong location Hogwarts instead of Hogsmeade, combined with accidental magic, the lights being from breaking through Hogwarts wards (the last might not have been explained explicitly). I'll go read over that first chapter and see if I can re-word it to make it clearer, I have a couple of other little edits to add in as well. Thanks heaps for your review.

SapphiRubyCrys- Thank you it's always lovely to hear that someone has enjoyed reading my story. Oh I haven't read Fire EMblem Awakening (that I can remember I do read a lot of fanfiction, but who doesn't) will be going to read it now.

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Harry was in the library still trying to catch up on work left over from the start of term. He felt like he had been sitting in the one spot for a year. The completed work sat in a pile to his left, and the books for the three essays he still had to write (all for potions) were stacked to his right. Lily was sitting at a table not far away, having wandered in some time after lunch and Harry had been staring at her unashamedly ever since, he couldn't help it. In the future Remus and Sirius had told him a bit about his Father but he had heard barely anything about his Mum, and so he stared. A dark haired boy entered the library and instantly noticed where Harry's gaze fell.

"She's too good for you Potter," he snarled, quietly enough that the girl wouldn't hear, as slipped into a chair at a table not far away.

Harry looked over at the boy and was not too surprised to recognise a seventeen year old Severus Snape, "The names Claybaker not Potter, but thanks for the advice."

Harry turned back to the essay he was writing. Half an hour later he stretched and looked over at the other boy. Snape's lank hair was hanging across his face, and his lips were twisted in concentration as his quill scratched away at the parchment. Despite what Luna had said (and well Harry wasn't as confident in believing Dumbledore would give him the whole story anymore, the man might have had good reasons for keeping his secrets but in the end the horcrux hunt would have been much shorter if he had shared the information and those secrets cost him Sirius), Harry was having difficulty overcoming Hermione's adamant 'not to be seen, not to change things' rule, there weren't too many times when the bookworm had lead him wrong. Still, here was the perfect opportunity to change things. Sure Severus was a git, nothing would change that but he didn't deserve to die the way he had, not after all he had done to help. He clearly didn't believe the ideals that Voldemort espoused or he would never have been a spy. So the question was, when did it change? Did it change twice? That seemed plausible without Lily as a moral anchor had he been swayed by the promises of power only to become disillusioned by them with her death. Could that be changed by the simple act of forgiveness? Was it worth a try? If he deliberately took this action was Harry any better than Dumbledore had been, interfering in other people's lives. Harry looked at his notes briefly, well if they were allowed to make changes… His mother might get her friend back and maybe Snape would be less bitter and that was a positive outcome for everyone…..right? Mentioning it shouldn't be too much meddling should it? After all then it was left up to them, they both might be completely opposed to the idea, and if they were there was nothing Harry could do about that.

He took a deep breath to dredge up some Gryffindor courage.

"Snape? Isn't it?" Harry asked softly not wishing to draw anyone else's attention. Snape looked up, surprised that there was no derision in the voice.

"Yeah."

"I hear you're good at potions. Is that true?"

"Yeah." Well he's just as chatty now as he is in the future Harry thought. Internally shaking his head at the dour man, breaking through that cold exterior would be a lot of hard work.

"Could you give me a hand on an assignment? It's catch up work from the start of the year. I can give you a hand with something else if you require? I'm pretty good at defence."

Snape thought for a moment, "I do well in defence. I doubt here is anything you can offer me."

Harry resisted the urge to smile, "Not even a chance to reconcile with Lily? I could mediate for you."

The change in Snape's attitude was immediate. "You know nothing," he sneered sending spittle flying, as he hurriedly stood stuffing his parchment and quills haphazardly into his bag then stalking away. Robes flapping wildly in his haste. Harry smiled, clearly he hadn't perfected the perfectly billowed cloak yet.

Lily turned towards the disturbance and noticing Harry sitting by himself for the first time, moved over to share his table.

"Don't let him upset you," she advised in conciliatory tone, wrongly assuming that Snape was the aggressor.

"Who Snape? He doesn't bother me. Not the happiest of fellows is he though?" Harry shrugged.

Lily shook her head sadly, "He used to be a bit happier, when we were friends."

That sealed it, her sad face was enough to break his heart, Harry would try to resolve the issue between his Mum and Snape (well at least he would encourage her to try, which was all he could really do), if the future turned out to be unchangeable then the least the man deserved was to know he had been forgiven and it might bring his mum some happiness.

"So why did you stop? Being his friend that is." Harry had always wondered, he had heard his mum was nice to everyone so why wouldn't she forgive her longtime friend for a single slip of the tongue.

"He insulted me," Lily said bluntly, as if that explained everything. Ok, Harry wondered if she had been mortally offended or if she was just a sensitive soul. He would have thought that living with Petunia would have made her tougher maybe that particular insult carried more weight in this time.

"If I stopped being friends with someone every time I was insulted," he said (thinking of Ron after his name came out of the Goblet of fire). "I wouldn't have any friends left." Harry didn't want her to feel like he was condoning the insult but wanted her to see that there was possibly another side to the story. "I assume he was upset at the time and took it out on you? He seems the type."

Lily nodded, "It was more than that, it's what that insult represents. He always told me that it made no difference who my parents were. I think he was lying. It became worse as the years went by. For many years he seemed to treat me as the exception, when he was around the friends from his house he call others with the same heritage as me that name. He started hanging around people I was sure would become Death Eaters and I could see our friendship slipping away the more he became involved with them. I thought if I stood by him then maybe I could keep him from making a terrible mistake. I tried to get him to see that people are people regardless of their blood type, I really did. He always agreed with me to my face but over the years I began to think he was merely humouring me. One day it all blew up. It was towards the end of our OWLs, Potter and Black were picking on him, they used to be right gits. I tried to help him," she grimaced as the scene played out in her mind's eye, "and that's when it happened. He has tried to apologise, he said he didn't mean it and he seemed genuinely sorry but…"

"So he turned his fear and humiliation into an attack on you. You felt betrayed, and weren't ready to forgive him when he asked and told him to bugger off, leading to the end of your friendship?" Harry surmised, Lily nodded. "First of all, it wasn't ok for him to take it out on you, regardless of what James and the others were doing to him, so you had every right to be upset. Do you know why he hangs around them?"

Lily shook her head. "He didn't have a great life at home. His dad drank a lot," she gave Harry a significant look and he remembered the nights Vernon used to come home, after having stopped by the pub, with a shudder. "And let his temper get out of hand. As a child I know it made him feel powerless that he couldn't defend himself or his mother. I heard a rumour that she passed away just this summer at his father's hand and Sev was there." Harry could tell by the look on her face that she still cared for her old friend. "I think he is seeking power so he won't ever be put in that position again."

"You could be right. I could see after that small discussion I just had with him, the loss of your friendship is still affecting him. Do you really think he meant it?"

Lily closed her eyes slowly, "I don't know, when we were younger, I don't think he would have meant it. But now it's hard to tell."

"Did he ever tell you what it's like down in the dungeons?"

Lily nodded slightly, "He said they are always talking like that. He had a hard time because he's a half blood. They picked on him for being my friend, it got worse after third year, any number of them told him to stop being my friend. I think they used to hide his books and steal his homework" She covered her mouth, "Oh, I should not have told you that! He wouldn't like it if he knew I had said anything."

Harry stifled a laugh, at a memory that was brought to the fore as her words echoed Hagrids. "So do you think he has been saying stuff like that to fit in? Or do you think he has been, sort of, you know brainwashed into believing it?"

Lily sighed sadly, her eyelashes glistened, "I just don't know?"

You could try asking him?"

She shook her head, "It's too late now. Even if he didn't mean it, and doesn't think that way. It wouldn't change anything."

"Would it give you some peace to find out? Because there is no harm in asking?"

"What does it matter, it's not like we could be friends, they never liked him before so they would never accept him now. Not with everything that's going on."

"Why are you letting them decide what you do. They don't have to accept him; they just have to accept that you do. Whether they accept him or not is not important. What is important is whether or not you trust him enough to let him back in your life, which will depend on what he says to you. Is the friendship you once had worth the risk. You never know you might just be able save him still." Harry's green eyes looked into her matching ones.

Lily stared at him for a long moment, before turning back to her assignment. Biting her bottom lip as she thought over what the messy haired boy had said.

Hours later having finally abandoned the library, Harry was sitting leaning against the beech tree feeling accomplished. It had been a long day trapped inside but he had finally finished all his work and with Lily's gentle encouragement even read ahead in potions. It was amazing how much easier it was to understand when someone actually took the time to explain it to him.

He looked towards the Forest and couldn't help remembering the last time he had walked through those trees surrounded by his family.

The silence broken only by the crack of twigs breaking under his feet, tucking his wand and cloak away and stepping into the clearing, the cry of Hagrid, green light, sharp nails on his chest, the feel of Hagrid's arms as he was carried back to the castle. He could see the dead lying around him, smell the spilled blood.

Harry could feel his heart racing and his breath becoming erratic, but there was nothing he could do to slow it down as the full force of the panic attack hit him. His thoughts crashed inside his brain.

What if they couldn't change anything and everyone died anyway? What if they changed things and more people died? If they saved Lily and James but did not defeat Voldemort then he would be too strong and instead of a ten year break between wars it would continue and thousands would die, what if…

The world was closing in around him, black spots appeared before his eyes as his breathing became even more rapid, heart beating so hard it felt like it was going to break right through his ribcage. His distress did not go unnoticed. A red haired girl had wandered up to his resting place, she had been meaning to spend some time contemplating the all the changes that the two newcomers had bought with them. Her thoughts were disrupted by the harsh wheeze of his rapid breathing.

"Harry…. Breath…. Harry," a calm voice, cool fingers touched his shoulder.

"Harry!" the voice grew more urgent now.

He had reached a point where he thought his heart was going to stop altogether and his throat constricted and stomach clenched tight. Harry turned away from the voice and vomited onto the grass. Lily vanished the mess as she knelt down beside him. Conjuring a cloth she wet it with a quick aguamenti and wiped the sweat from his forehead, it provided a cool counterpoint to his hot skin.

"Harry, you need to breathe slowly. In….Out…..In…." gradually Harry managed to bring his breathing under control again and opened his eyes. The big green eyes watching him were full of tears.

"Thank God! Harry, you had me worried." Lily drew him into a hug.

"Sorry," tucking drawing his knees to his body he wrapped his arms around them and buried his face refusing to meet her gaze, unwilling to see the pity he knew would be there.

"There is nothing to apologise for, but I think you need to talk about what happened." She rubbed circles on his back.

Harry shook his head adamantly "No!"

"Harry, if you bottle it up, you will have more attacks like this." She reasoned as she watched him carefully.

Luna and Remus had both said he should talk but… "I'm not weak!" he muttered.

"Seeking help isn't weakness Harry," Lily chided him.

"Luna doesn't need help," he grumbled.

"Luna's different," Lily conceded. "She deals with things differently to the way you do. She is not you! Besides I get the feeling she doesn't carry quite the same burden you do, and you help her with her troubles. You're carrying your load and hers, let some of it go Harry."

Harry sighed, "I see dead people, everywhere. All those we couldn't save. Sometimes they are lying on the ground just as I saw them that night, children with their throats ripped out, friends lying like they were asleep but oh so still and unmoving. Other nights they come up to me in anger, screaming out that I didn't save them, asking my why. Why am I still alive! I could have sacrificed my self s…..I should have tried harder, if only I was better, faster if I just…" he placed his fisted hands over his eyes, trying to dam the threatening flood of tears.

"Harry," her voice was soft and soothing in his ear, her hand warm on his back, her head a comforting weight on his shoulder, grounding him. "You can't save everyone, we are facing war, people will die. You can't carry the weight of them all." Her voice was sorrowful, on some level she knew.

"But…."

"No Harry," her voice was firm as she hugged him into her side. "You are a wonderful man, your parents and the Grangers would be so so proud, but they would want you to live and not spend your life worrying about what ifs and if onlys. You are only just becoming an adult. Harry you don't have to save the world." She took a deep breath. "Harry, I've never told anyone this. I was with my parents when they died Harry." Harry's breath caught in his throat, he'd never heard anyone speak of his grandparents before, Lily noticed and thinking he was beginning to panic again resumed rubbing his back. "They had picked me up from the station at the end of the year, traffic was terrible. We were halfway home when it happened. A semi travelling too fast swerved to miss a piece of rubbish that was lying on the motorway, it clipped our car pushing it into the next lane. I ….I...don't remember much just loud bangs and pain. Then a nice man, telling me to stay calm, help would be there soon. My magic saved me Harry, but not Mum and Dad. After leaving the hospital I had to move in with Tuney, she blamed me of course. After all if magic saved me why hadn't it saved Mum and Dad, I asked myself the same question. I still feel guilty sometimes, but I know they wouldn't want me feeling guilty or not living my own life. What I'm trying to say is it gets easier as time goes by. It might not ever go away but it does get easier." Lily stood up abruptly, "Now I'm not leaving you out here to mope, up you get, you're coming inside to get cleaned up."

She grabbed him under his arm and hauled him to his feet.

"Thanks Lily." Harry muttered. Lily kept her arm around him as they walked back to the castle. If only she knew, he thought as he allowed her to lead him away.

Harry went to bed exhausted while the rest of the seventh years and Luna were still talking in the common room.

"What's going on between you and Claybaker Lily?" Peter asked slyly, he had been holding this in until they were all present and couldn't wait for James to explode.

"Nothing," Lily frowned wondering what his point was. She had never felt completely comfortable around Peter, he always seemed to be watching her and it made her skin crawl.

"I saw you giving him a hug under the beech tree," Peter watched James' face which remained passive.

"Oh that," Lily said with a shrug and she told the group how she had seen him sitting under the tree, looking pale and barely breathing, before he had thrown up. Luna wandered over to the group and slid onto the floor to sit beside Lily.

"He is haunted by the ghosts of his past," Luna supplied sadly.

"More like he was angling for some physical contact with Evans if you know what I mean," Peter waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Eww! Definitely not!" Lily denied. "Don't get me wrong he is a nice boy but...just... no." The thought was somewhat mortifying. Luna giggled at Lily's response, imagining telling Harry about the conversation.

Seeing he hadn't gotten the response he was after Peter tried a different attack, "So Luna, What ghosts does he have in the past, who did he kill then?"

Luna merely tipped her head to the side "Hmm, you seem to have a massive Nargle infestation, you should really get that seen to." She moved to begin plucking the invisible creatures from around his head but he drew back from her with a disgusted expression on his face and slapped her hand away.

"Ow!" Luna winced. "Well I suppose it must be Nargle breeding season then!" she said as she stood up, rubbing her hand as she made her way to her dormitory.

"They are up to something," Peter whispered as he watched her go. "I bet they are Death Eaters."

"First of all Peter, if you ever lay a hand on that girl again I will hex you into tomorrow," Lily said. Peter took note of the fierce expression on her face and nodded mutely. "And stop being so ridiculous, Luna is too sweet and Harry is to too….well…." Lily struggled to find a description. "Potter-ish... for them to be Death Eaters. What?" she asked as Sirius swallowed a chuckle.

"Potter-ish?"

"Yes, you know, Potter-ish like a Potter," she explained as if they were slow. With a huff she added, "Well James would never be a Death Eater would he?"

James blushed- when had she started calling him by his name! And why hadn't he noticed!

"And that's why they are, because they appear not to be, it's the perfect disguise," the small boy justified.

"I still think that you're being ridiculous, come on James we have a patrol to do." Lily stood and offered James her hand. She attempted to pull him into standing however her diminutive size was something of a disadvantage and wondering how she had managed to get Harry to his feet earlier she gave up in huff. James laughed as he jumped up and followed her through the portrait hole.

"So you aren't interested in young Harry then?" James asked her, trying to appear nonchanlent, as they paced the halls.

"Young? Do you really think so, I think he is older than any of us, but to answer your question no."

"And why not?" James pressed. "He looks like me so he must be handsome enough."

Lily frowned, "I like him well enough, just not in a romantic way I guess. When I saw him out there today, I just felt like, I should be…I don't know…taking care of him, or something."

"You pity him?"

"Maybe a little, it's got to be hard, he's lost not only his real parents, but his foster parents too, it doesn't sound like he had much of a childhood. He seems to be able to see the good in anyone, he even tried to convince me to talk to Severus."

"He what?" James was shocked, maybe Peter was right about the boy.

"He asked why we had fallen out? Harry gave me a lot to think about. I'm not sure what Severus was thinking that day, is he really a follower of Voldemort or not. He suggested that forgiveness from me might give Sev an option apart from becoming a Death Eater. Harry seemed to understand that Sev didn't have the greatest childhood and that could possibly force him down that path."

James was quiet, "Do you like Sniv…Snape?"

Lily laughed, "He was a good friend, my first wizarding friend. He introduced me to this world, but he also lied and said that having Muggle parents didn't matter. A true friend would have warned me, though maybe he was trying not to scare me off. I don't know. I miss him though, so I'd at least like to find out."

James looked at the ground as he walked, "If you miss him then you should try and talk to him. I was always so jealous that he had you as a friend, that's one of the reasons we used to be at loggerheads all the time."

Lily's eyes narrowed and then she arched an eyebrow, "So if I become his friend again are you two going to re-enact the prank wars of the past?"

James sighed and tucked his hands into his pockets, "No. As your friend I want you to be safe and happy, and if he makes you happy and doesn't jeopardise your safety, then I guess that is enough. I don't have to like him or be his friend, but I won't try and stop you."

Lily stopped walking and stared at James, with a smirk she said, "Who are you and what have you done with James Potter?"

James chuckled and shrugged, "Just growing up I guess."

Lily reached over and gave his arm a squeeze, "About time, and I must say, maturity looks good on you."

"By the way what I said before doesn't mean I won't keep an eye on him and if he hurts you in anyway, there'll be repercussions."

"Oh look, there's the James I remember!" Lily laughed.

James was still smiling as he made his way into his dormitory and let himself fall backwards onto his bed.

"So what has put that dopey look on our Jamie's face this evening?" Sirius asked.

"2 Knuts says Patrols with a certain redhead went well," Remus offered.

"No bet there," Sirius agreed. "What happened? Did you kiss her?"

"No!" James denied.

"You know we won't hear the end of it until he gets it off his chest, so we better just ask," Remus whispered to Sirius, who groaned.

"Go ahead then Prongs, tells us what happened," Sirius flopped onto his own bed.

"She gave me a compliment" James said with a smile.

"She's just lulling you into a false sense of security and then she is going to throw you over for Harry," Peter warned seriously. "I honestly don't know how you guys got sucked in…"

"What is it with you and the whole Harry-Evans conspiracy anyway Wormy?" Sirius rolled onto his side to ask the boy.

"Nothing, I've just seen the way he stares at her, then they are all chummy, and I know what I saw going on underneath the Beech tree today. I don't know why you guys don't believe me!"

Remus thought for a minute," I know what you mean about the stare, but..."

"See," Peter stuck out his chin.

"Hold on, let me finish," Remus continued. "It's the same way he looks at Prongs, almost like he is afraid they will disappear at any moment and he is trying to commit every detail to memory."

"He doesn't look at me like that! You guys are hallucinating. And Peter, lay off with the Death Eater accusations," James snapped as he made his way into the bathroom a towel slung over one shoulder.

Harry standing just outside the dorm door, let out the breath he was holding, he didn't mind Peter accusing him so much, it made it obvious that even at this early stage he was pulling away from the rest of the Marauders, even if he hadn't joined with Riddle yet. It might have been a bit harsh but he had no real desire to save the boy. Besides if he didn't interfere then the opportunity would be there to meet Tom on that Halloween night four years into the future.

Sitting in the library studying Lily could feel the eyes upon her. Not the creepy ones that made her skin crawl but the cool emotionless ones, she was sure that mask hadn't been in place when he was younger. It had been happening more often since she had become friends with James.

Friends with James! Now wasn't that a weird thought. Who would have thought it possible? Sure he had become much more tolerable during sixth year, leading to her hate diminishing to dislike, but since Harry and Luna had appeared he had grown to become a whole new person. Well, not completely new, he still had a penchant for mischief as demonstrated by that last prank. They had charmed all the carved pumpkins in the hall to sing the school song and then cough up sweets at the end of the Halloween feast, but it was funny and no one got hurt or humiliated. Yes she liked the new friend she had gained and with the friendship James no longer followed her around like a lost puppy and wasn't that a relief as well.

Lily turned and looked, yes as she had suspected he was sitting at a desk not far away, he'd ducked his head as she looked around. Making a decision she checked that no one else was watching, it wouldn't do for his friends to see, stood and walked over to him.

"Hi," she said shyly not quite sure how the reception would be, his head snapped up to look at her.

"H..h..hi," he stammered in surprise unable to hold his mask like expression. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you."

"A bit late now, don't you think?" he snapped in his shock on the defensive as he expected her to verbally attack him. "After all the times I tried to apologise."

Lily bit her lip and looked down at the floor she had hoped that he would be a little friendlier, "I'm sorry I wasn't ready to hear it back then."

"Why would you bother now?" he hissed, eyes flicking round the room before settling on her once he was sure no one else was about.

"I need to know," she looked into his dark eyes. "I need to know if you meant it! What you said that day. I need to know if you meant it when you called the others that name."

He couldn't help but answer her honestly, he let out a strangled "No," through a clenched throat. His emotions broke like a wave and could be seen on his face for the first time in years, "Never! Lily you don't know what it is like living in the dungeons, the scheming, plotting, everyone watching everyone else. To survive I had to be seen to be doing what they wanted. I tried to protect you as much as I could, they threatened to hurt you...I couldn't let them, so I said...and did what I had to." The honest regret clearly visible on his face made Lily wonder what he had had to do.

"I miss you," she whispered her peace offering. "I have for the longest time and I'm worried about you, and I know I have no right to be, but I still do, with Voldemort and all that's going on. This is our last year at school, and if we don't make up now something might happen and we might not get another chance and…"

"Lily!" Severus held his hand up to stop her, "You're rambling."

He noticed her blush, "What do your new friends think about this?" his sneer returned at the thought of her latest companions.

Lily shrugged, "James said he didn't care as long as I am happy."

"James!" Was this all a trick? Had that arrogant bast…. No Lily was too smart for that. Of course James had tricked her! His voice more harsh then he'd intended "Since when was he your friend! And you believed him! He is using you, he wants to take advantage of you."

This time it was Lily who raised her hand, "And if he does it's my mistake to make, you lost the right to have a say in it back when you called me that name."

"I am truly sorry," he looked down his anger fading to sadness. Lily reached over and squeezed his forearm.

"Forgiven," she smiled gently. "And I'm sorry too, that I didn't listen sooner."

"It won't be the same," he said sadly.

"No, few things ever are, well I had best get back to my books. See you around."

He sighed as he watched her go, unsure how he felt about what had just happened. On one hand at least the animosity was gone, on the other a deeper relationship was clearly off the cards and she was just as clearly attracted to Potter, though he doubted she even knew it yet, and that made him feel ill in the stomach. He noted she hadn't enquired whether he had actually joined the Dark Lord and his minions either, which made him wonder if she would still want to talk to him if she knew how close he had been to becoming one. With a groan he dropped his head to the table. He still had a year of living in the dungeons with almost of the entirety of his year already marked he didn't know how he was going to survive if he wasn't.

He watched as Claybaker came and sat down opposite Lily. It was strange how the boy looked so much like Potter that you would swear they were brothers. The boy had secrets Severus was sure, more intriguing ones then Lupin's had been in fifth year. It was puzzling how he knew about the fight with Lily, and that Severus' strongest subject was potions when he had only started this year, and his eyes! That one occasion where their eyes had met there was such a depth of emotion there that Severus had to turn away, sadness, empathy and something else…. was it admiration?

"I saw you talked to him," Harry commented quietly as he pulled out a chair and began unpacking his bag.

"I did," Lily confirmed.

"And?" came the prompt after a moments silence.

"He apologised and I accepted," she answered with a small smile. He seemed genuine and he said that he only talked about my friends that way because of the situation in the Slytherin.

"So that's good isn't it?" Harry asked. "Apart from the fact that he was or is being bullied in his own house."

"Yes. Though if it becomes known he's my friend again, I don't know what will happen." Lily hesitated for a moment before continuing "He said it won't be the same as it used to be."

"He's right," Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"I know it was silly of me but I had hoped we could find what we had."

"It's sad, but that's ok, you've had different experiences now, grown in different ways, but you'll always have the place where you started." Harry thought for a moment, "I'll tell you a secret, I had a girlfriend once. When we knew I was going to be targeted by Voldemort I told her we couldn't be together anymore, so that I could keep her safe. We got hunted, hurt and we had to fight, and we were constantly worried about everyone we cared about. During that time she also faced trials, though they were somewhat different. I saw her again just before I came here and realised that we had both changed, the things we had to do and the things that we saw changed who we are. We won't ever be together in that same way again. It's sad, but I wouldn't change it, I know that she's safe and that was why I left in the first place. Once you acknowledge that things have changed you can grieve for what you had and move on, who knows maybe what you will have, will be better."


End file.
